Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Holdings Lowered by Sanders Capital LLC

Key Points

• Sanders Capital trimmed its Salesforce stake by 0.9% in the third quarter, selling 82,336 shares; it still held about 9.53 million shares worth $2.19 billion.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy”, with an average price target of $278.98. Recent ratings ranged from buy and outperform calls to neutral and hold ratings.
• Salesforce shares fell 3.8% to $213.96 on Friday. The company’s latest reported quarter beat EPS expectations and revenue rose 10.8% year over year.

Sanders Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,533,018 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 82,336 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 2.1% of Sanders Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Sanders Capital LLC owned approximately 1.16% of Salesforce worth $2,188,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV increased its position in Salesforce by 0.7% during the third quarter. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV now owns 6,422 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.6% in the third quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 3,396 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $780,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,700 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,549 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 12th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s planned acquisition of AI voice-agent company Cresta could strengthen Agentforce and Service Cloud, adding capabilities for customer-service automation. The deal also brings acquisition costs and execution risks. Article: Salesforce Bets on AI Voice Agents With Planned Cresta Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Salesforce from “hold” to “strong buy,” a favorable analyst signal that may help counter near-term concerns. Article: Zacks Research rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding its Coworker offering and promoting a 21-times growth claim, but the report notes that no baseline is provided, making the figure difficult to assess. Article: Salesforce Expands Coworker’s Reach, but Its 21× Growth Claim Has No Baseline
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is extending Agent Fabric to help businesses manage AI agents across platforms. Its large customer base and reported 1.2 billion daily requests suggest potential, but investors still need evidence that the AI activity will translate into meaningful revenue. Article: Salesforce Stock: The 1 Number Investors Still Need to See
• Negative Sentiment: A broader software sell-off is weighing on CRM, while S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A from A+. S&P cited acquisition spending and a $25 billion debt-financed buyback, which lifted pro forma net debt relative to EBITDA above its previous downgrade threshold. The rating action raises concerns about leverage and aggressive capital allocation. Article: S&P cuts Salesforce to A on rising acquisition debt and buybacks

Salesforce Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of CRM traded down $8.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $213.96. 6,708,466 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,142,592. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $239.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $176.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11.

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, topping 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 last year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The firm's 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce.

The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce's products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.

Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and other co-founders, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco.

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