Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Albion Financial Group UT

Key Points

• Albion Financial Group UT increased its Salesforce position by 40.9% in the third quarter, bringing its holdings to 48,634 shares valued at $11.17 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, representing a 0.7% annualized yield.
• Salesforce’s planned $5.66 billion acquisition of Braze is viewed as strategically supportive of its Marketing Cloud and AI initiatives, but investors remain concerned about the premium price, integration risks, cash commitments and potential impact on organic growth.

Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,634 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 14,119 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT's holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Guardian Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8,000.0% in the third quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. now owns 6,075 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 5,377 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,234,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc purchased a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $5,625,000. Variant Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $244,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 16.1% in the third quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 9,277 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $241.77 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $234.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.07. The company has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Braze for $47.50 per share in cash, a roughly 58% premium. Braze’s real-time customer data and engagement technology could strengthen Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud and provide infrastructure for its Agentforce artificial-intelligence platform. The transaction is expected to close in fiscal 2028, subject to regulatory review. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Braze
• Positive Sentiment: UBS called the deal a solid strategic fit at a reasonable price, while Jefferies said it could improve Salesforce’s marketing capabilities and encourage broader consolidation across the software industry. The acquisition may allow Salesforce to add capabilities faster than building comparable real-time data infrastructure internally. Salesforce's Braze deal wins UBS backing on strategy, but growth concerns remain
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “overweight” rating and set a $300 price target, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. Other recent commentary highlighted Salesforce’s strong cash generation, approximately 22% net margin, active buyback program and improving AI- and data-related growth prospects.
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has significantly outperformed the broader market over the past six months, and valuation-focused research from Zacks describes CRM as a highly ranked value stock. However, comparisons with Oracle and Autodesk indicate that investors are still assessing which software companies offer the best combination of growth and valuation. Salesforce is a Top-Ranked Value Stock
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate market reaction has been negative because Salesforce is paying a large premium for a target that remains unprofitable, while committing significant cash to another major acquisition following its Informatica and Loops investments. Investors are concerned about integration costs, overlapping operations, antitrust scrutiny and the risk that the deal distracts from organic growth.
• Negative Sentiment: UBS also warned that the Braze transaction could renew questions about Salesforce’s ability to generate faster organic growth. The stock’s direction will likely depend on whether management can retain Braze’s customers, integrate its technology and convert the combined platform into accelerating revenue and Agentforce adoption.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CRM. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.98.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company's products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.

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