Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by HBW Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• HBW Advisory Services reduced its Salesforce position by 18.2% in the third quarter, selling 2,506 shares and retaining 11,293 shares worth approximately $2.59 million.
• Other institutional investors made mixed moves, with several initiating new positions; institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce maintains a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average analyst price target of $278.12, while recent results showed adjusted earnings of $5.90 per share and quarterly revenue growth of 10.8% year over year.

HBW Advisory Services LLC cut its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 18.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,293 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 2,506 shares during the quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade and AI acquisition support sentiment: Bank of America reportedly issued a rare double upgrade, arguing that Salesforce’s AI offerings could deepen customer dependence on its platform. The bullish call followed Salesforce’s agreement to acquire AI-powered analytics platform Loops, which could strengthen its data and analytics capabilities. Salesforce Gets a Rare BofA Double Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Technical setup points to additional upside: A weekly bullish reversal, daily double-bottom pattern and potential bullish-flag breakout suggest the post-breakout pullback may be ending, according to technical analysis. Salesforce Price Forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded DocuSign partnership adds an AI workflow catalyst: DocuSign’s Intelligent Agreement Management platform will be integrated natively with Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack, potentially increasing the usefulness of Salesforce’s AI agents for revenue teams. DocuSign and Salesforce Launch Intelligent Agreement Management
• Neutral Sentiment: Relative valuation looks favorable: One comparison with ServiceNow concluded Salesforce has stronger earnings estimate revisions, faster AI growth and a lower valuation, although investors still need evidence that those advantages will translate into sustained growth. Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Negative Sentiment: AI monetization remains the key overhang: Despite earnings beats, skeptics question whether agentic AI can materially improve Salesforce’s profits. Reports also highlight AI cannibalization risks and note that many customers have not yet adopted a potentially important upgrade, leaving investors cautious about near-term revenue acceleration. Agentic AI Skepticism

Salesforce Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of CRM opened at $235.95 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $229.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced 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. 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

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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