Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by LaFleur & Godfrey LLC

Key Points

• LaFleur & Godfrey LLC increased its Salesforce stake by 10.5% in the third quarter, adding 4,810 shares to hold 50,613 shares worth approximately $11.6 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of CRM.
• 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. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, yielding about 0.7% annually.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $278.98 versus a share price of $242.37. Investors are watching whether AI initiatives such as Agentforce and usage-based billing can accelerate growth, despite concerns over valuation and revenue predictability.

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,613 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 4,810 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up about 1.4% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. North Dakota State Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 24,346 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,589,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $240,000. BLB&B Advisors LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 2.5% during the third quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 82,840 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $19,018,000 after buying an additional 2,030 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $43,343,000. Finally, WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 31.4% during the third quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 225,477 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $51,763,000 after buying an additional 53,931 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $242.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $199.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $237.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.18. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Yorkville Ives assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Usage-based AI billing could improve monetization. Salesforce plans to begin charging customers based on the volume of AI-agent calls in November, moving beyond a purely seat-based model. New Agent Fabric tools for testing, evaluation and cost controls may help customers adopt agents and give Salesforce a clearer path to growing AI revenue. Salesforce Brings In Usage Based AI Billing With New Agent Fabric Controls
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce is strengthening the generative-AI investment case. Recent commentary points to improving Agentforce traction and supports the view that Salesforce can use its large customer base to commercialize AI capabilities, potentially accelerating growth beyond its core customer-management software. Agentforce Growth Strengthens Salesforce’s Generative AI Narrative
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and valuation coverage remains generally constructive. Zacks describes CRM as a highly ranked growth stock, while other analysis argues the shares look inexpensive relative to Salesforce’s earnings power. The company’s latest reported quarter also showed strong earnings, revenue growth and profitability, supporting the bullish case. Salesforce Stock Looks Cheap Relative To Its Earnings Power
• Neutral Sentiment: Product expansion adds ecosystem value. Fastcall launched mobile calling and SMS integrations for Salesforce on iPhone and Android, broadening customer-engagement functionality, although the third-party announcement is unlikely to materially affect near-term financial results. Fastcall Launches Fastcall Mobile
• Negative Sentiment: Recent volatility reflects execution and valuation concerns. CRM fell in the previous session even as the broader market advanced, suggesting investors remain cautious about whether AI growth will offset slower underlying growth and justify the stock’s valuation. The shift to usage-based pricing also introduces uncertainty around revenue predictability and customer adoption.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents 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.

About Salesforce

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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