Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Holdings Trimmed by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Key Points

• Crossmark Global Holdings reduced its Salesforce position by 12.7% in the third quarter, selling 16,238 shares and retaining 111,267 shares valued at approximately $25.5 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce agreed to acquire Braze for $47.50 per share in cash, a roughly 58% premium, to strengthen its Marketing Cloud and Agentforce AI capabilities. While analysts view the deal as strategically attractive, investors remain concerned about the premium, integration costs, regulatory scrutiny and its potential impact on organic growth.
• Salesforce’s shares opened at $241.77, while analyst sentiment remained broadly positive with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $278.98. The company recently exceeded quarterly EPS estimates, reported 10.8% year-over-year revenue growth and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 12.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,267 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 16,238 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $25,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter worth about $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter worth about $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 184.5% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,663 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Braze for $47.50 per share in cash, a roughly 58% premium. Braze’s real-time customer data and engagement technology could strengthen Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud and provide infrastructure for its Agentforce artificial-intelligence platform. The transaction is expected to close in fiscal 2028, subject to regulatory review. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Braze
• Positive Sentiment: UBS called the deal a solid strategic fit at a reasonable price, while Jefferies said it could improve Salesforce’s marketing capabilities and encourage broader consolidation across the software industry. The acquisition may allow Salesforce to add capabilities faster than building comparable real-time data infrastructure internally. Salesforce's Braze deal wins UBS backing on strategy, but growth concerns remain
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “overweight” rating and set a $300 price target, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. Other recent commentary highlighted Salesforce’s strong cash generation, approximately 22% net margin, active buyback program and improving AI- and data-related growth prospects.
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has significantly outperformed the broader market over the past six months, and valuation-focused research from Zacks describes CRM as a highly ranked value stock. However, comparisons with Oracle and Autodesk indicate that investors are still assessing which software companies offer the best combination of growth and valuation. Salesforce is a Top-Ranked Value Stock
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate market reaction has been negative because Salesforce is paying a large premium for a target that remains unprofitable, while committing significant cash to another major acquisition following its Informatica and Loops investments. Investors are concerned about integration costs, overlapping operations, antitrust scrutiny and the risk that the deal distracts from organic growth.
• Negative Sentiment: UBS also warned that the Braze transaction could renew questions about Salesforce’s ability to generate faster organic growth. The stock’s direction will likely depend on whether management can retain Braze’s customers, integrate its technology and convert the combined platform into accelerating revenue and Agentforce adoption.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. TD Cowen started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, October 12th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $241.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $234.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.07. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Salesforce 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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