Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Northstar Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Northstar Asset Management cut its Salesforce stake by 50.1% in the second quarter, selling 9,986 shares and retaining 9,955 shares valued at approximately $1.56 million.
• Institutional interest remains substantial, with hedge funds and other institutions owning 80.43% of Salesforce’s outstanding stock; BlackRock, Bank of America and Norges Bank established major positions.
• 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. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $261.15.

Northstar Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 50.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,955 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 9,986 shares during the quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $1,914,086,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,182,951,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:CRM opened at $256.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $210.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.16. 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 quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.84. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $181.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.55.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce's quarterly revenue 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $228.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $261.15.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly beat and raised outlook: Salesforce reported adjusted EPS of $5.90 versus the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion, broadly topping expectations. Management raised its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to approximately $46.1 billion-$46.4 billion and pointed to stronger bookings, lower attrition and potential organic growth reacceleration. Salesforce Stock Soars After Strong Results, Raised Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership strengthens the growth narrative: Salesforce expanded its alliance with Anthropic, integrating Claude into Agentforce and launching “Claudeforce,” which places Salesforce CRM capabilities inside Claude. Investors viewed the agreement as evidence that Salesforce can monetize AI and benefit from rising usage; Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue approached $3.9 billion, with Agentforce ARR reaching about $1.5 billion. Salesforce Soars on Earnings Beat and AI Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support: Wolfe Research upgraded CRM to “strong buy,” while several firms raised price targets, including Truist to $300, JPMorgan to $265 and Mizuho to $265. Heavy trading and reports of institutional buying suggest investors are reassessing the stock’s valuation and the broader software sector’s AI prospects.
• Neutral Sentiment: Profit quality warrants scrutiny: Strategic investment gains contributed $2.53 of the $5.90 adjusted EPS, including an estimated $2.7 billion unrealized gain tied to Salesforce’s Anthropic investment. This boosted reported earnings but may not represent recurring operating performance. Salesforce Stock Just Soared. Thank Anthropic.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks remain: After the rally, some analysts still see limited upside or downside, with UBS, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo retaining neutral or equivalent ratings. Critics also caution that Anthropic could control the AI orchestration layer, potentially limiting Salesforce’s long-term strategic leverage, while the rapid move may already price in much of the AI opportunity.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.

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