Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Purchased by Sanders Morris Harris LLC

Key Points

• Sanders Morris Harris LLC increased its Salesforce stake by 259.9% in the third quarter, ending with 7,367 shares valued at approximately $1.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with adjusted EPS of $5.90 versus the $3.27 consensus estimate and revenue of $11.35 billion, up 10.8% year over year.
• Investor sentiment is supported by AI initiatives, including the planned acquisition of Loops and an expanded DocuSign partnership, though skepticism remains about whether agentic AI will generate meaningful incremental growth. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with a $278.12 average price target.

Sanders Morris Harris LLC raised its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 259.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,367 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm's 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America upgraded Salesforce to Buy and raised its price target to $285, arguing that AI should deepen customer dependence on the company’s platform. The double upgrade provided a recent boost to investor sentiment. Salesforce Gets a Rare BofA Double Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire AI-powered analytics platform Loops, strengthening its data and artificial-intelligence capabilities. The deal, alongside Salesforce’s Agentforce strategy, supports the company’s effort to make AI a larger growth driver. Salesforce to Buy AI-Powered Analytics Platform Loops
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce and DocuSign expanded their partnership to bring intelligent agreement management natively into Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack. The integration could increase platform usage and support AI-enabled workflows for enterprise customers. DocuSign and Salesforce Launch Intelligent Agreement Management
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts comparing Salesforce with ServiceNow say Salesforce has an advantage from faster AI growth, stronger earnings-estimate revisions and a lower valuation. However, the comparison also highlights that the market is demanding clearer evidence of AI-related returns. Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism about agentic AI is limiting the benefit of Salesforce’s strong earnings performance. Market participants want proof that AI adoption will materially increase revenue, margins and profits, rather than cannibalize existing software spending. This uncertainty is contributing to the stock’s recent weakness. Agentic AI Skepticism: Apple and Salesforce Face a Common Issue

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM traded down $2.06 on Wednesday, hitting $235.95. 6,144,577 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,601,249. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. 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 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $228.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.67.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank cut Salesforce from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. They issued a "sector weight" rating on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.12.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.

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