Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Parallel Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings

Key Points

• Parallel Advisors cut its Salesforce stake by 11.9% in the third quarter, selling 6,045 shares and retaining 44,899 shares valued at about $10.3 million.
• Salesforce shares fell 3.8% to $213.96 in Friday trading. The company’s latest reported quarterly results beat EPS estimates ($5.90 versus $3.27) and showed 10.8% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $278.98; Salesforce also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Parallel Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,899 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 6,045 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CRM. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Latitude Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% in the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded down $8.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $213.96. 6,708,466 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,142,592. The firm has a market cap of $176.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $239.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.64. 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 (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on CRM. Barclays cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a report on Monday, October 12th. Four equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.98.

Salesforce News Summary

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 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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