Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Holdings Lowered by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Apollon Wealth Management reduced its Salesforce position by 10.2% in the third quarter, selling 7,070 shares and retaining 62,283 shares valued at approximately $14.3 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce shares opened at $248.79, while the company’s latest quarterly results beat expectations with $5.90 in EPS versus a $3.27 consensus estimate and revenue of $11.35 billion, up 10.8% year over year.
• Investor focus remains on Salesforce’s AI expansion and planned $5.66 billion Braze acquisition, which could strengthen customer-engagement capabilities but introduce integration and near-term return risks. Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus rating with a $278.98 average price target.

Apollon Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,283 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 7,070 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $248.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $204.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $236.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.97.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. The business'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. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI products are reportedly growing at triple-digit rates, while its Agentforce platform and more than $14 billion in annual free cash flow could support profitable expansion. The company’s valuation may look attractive if AI adoption accelerates. Salesforce Is Betting Big on AI. The Payoff Could Be Bigger Than Investors Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “Overweight” rating, indicating continued confidence in Salesforce’s growth outlook and AI transition. Salesforce Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: The $5.66 billion Braze purchase could expand Salesforce’s customer-engagement capabilities and strengthen its push from AI defense toward a broader autonomous-agent strategy. Salesforce’s $5.6B Braze Buyout
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor comparisons with Adobe, Arista Networks and Snowflake highlight Salesforce’s CRM leadership, focus on profitable growth and AI-agent pivot, but do not represent new company-specific developments. Salesforce vs. Snowflake
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may be concerned that the Braze acquisition’s $5.66 billion price will increase integration risk and pressure near-term returns. Questions about contracts, pricing and customer impact could temper enthusiasm for the deal. Salesforce to Buy Braze for $5.66B

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Barclays cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Three investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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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