Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors increased its Salesforce stake by 59.2% in the third quarter, bringing its holdings to 5,632 shares valued at approximately $1.29 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Analyst sentiment has improved: Bank of America upgraded Salesforce to “buy,” TD Cowen initiated coverage with a “buy” rating, and Canaccord Genuity raised its price target to $300. The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with a $278.12 average price target.
• Salesforce reported quarterly earnings of $5.90 per share, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. However, investors remain focused on whether the company’s AI investments will translate into meaningful additional revenue and profit growth.

Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 59.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,632 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,095 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter worth about $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter worth about $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,846,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $142,521,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades support the stock. Salesforce shares gained following recent analyst upgrades, reflecting increased confidence in the company’s earnings outlook and potential for further appreciation. Salesforce Shares Climb on Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: AI integration is strengthening Salesforce’s core platform. Harris Oakmark highlighted Salesforce’s ability to integrate AI into its enterprise software, potentially increasing customer value and supporting long-term growth. A separate comparison concluded that Salesforce has stronger earnings-estimate revisions, faster AI growth and a lower valuation than ServiceNow. Salesforce AI Integration Enhances Platform Value Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Positive Sentiment: Hunter sales agent gains a data partnership. ZoomInfo’s designation as a flagship data partner for Salesforce’s new Hunter outbound sales agent provides evidence of ecosystem support for Sales Cloud’s AI capabilities. Hunter uses live prospect intelligence to help prioritize accounts and recommend sales actions. ZoomInfo Named a Flagship Data Partner for Hunter
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector sentiment is improving. ServiceNow’s denial of acquisition interest in Decagon helped lift parts of the enterprise-software group, indirectly benefiting Salesforce. However, the development does not materially change Salesforce’s fundamentals. ServiceNow and Salesforce Market Moves
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain skeptical about AI monetization. Despite strong earnings, the market continues to question whether agentic AI will generate meaningful incremental profit. Salesforce also faces slower reported revenue growth than ServiceNow and must convert AI adoption into measurable expansion. Agentic AI Skepticism

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Barclays downgraded Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "positive" rating in a report on Monday. DA Davidson set a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $8.22 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $244.18. 4,536,631 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,553,821. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $229.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.02. The firm has a market cap of $200.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.

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