Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Cuts Stake

Key Points

• Sustainable Growth Advisers LP cut its Salesforce stake by 17.4% in the third quarter, selling 262,410 shares and retaining 1.24 million shares valued at approximately $285.2 million.
• Institutional investors own 80.43% of Salesforce, while insider activity was mixed: Director David Blair Kirk bought nearly $1 million in shares, whereas Director Craig Conway sold about $1.17 million.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, and revenue rose 10.8% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $278.12, despite one recent downgrade to “Strong Sell.”

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 17.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,242,188 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 262,410 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for approximately 3.1% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned approximately 0.15% of Salesforce worth $285,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the third quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 3,396 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $780,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the first quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,445,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,714 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,312,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,274 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: An analyst upgrade helped lift Salesforce, adding to favorable sentiment around its valuation, earnings outlook and AI growth prospects. Salesforce Shares Climb on Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce benefited from broad strength in enterprise software and a major United Kingdom deal, while technical analysts pointed to a bullish flag breakout, a double-bottom pattern and a weekly reversal that could extend the recovery. Why Is Salesforce Stock Gaining Thursday? Salesforce Price Forecast
• Positive Sentiment: ZoomInfo was named a flagship data partner for Salesforce’s new Hunter outbound sales agent. Hunter will combine CRM data with live intelligence to identify prospects and recommend next actions, reinforcing Salesforce’s strategy of embedding AI into Sales Cloud. ZoomInfo Named a Flagship Data Partner for Hunter
• Positive Sentiment: One investment-fund review argued that Salesforce’s AI integration is increasing the value of its core enterprise platform. Another comparison gave Salesforce an edge over ServiceNow based on stronger earnings-estimate revisions, faster AI growth and a lower valuation. Salesforce AI Integration Enhances Platform Value Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors continue comparing Salesforce with ServiceNow. Salesforce generates more revenue, but ServiceNow has posted faster and more consistent year-over-year growth, highlighting the need for Salesforce to accelerate its expansion. Salesforce vs. ServiceNow Revenue Trends
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors remain skeptical that agentic AI will meaningfully improve Salesforce’s profits, particularly because many customers have not yet upgraded to newer offerings. That uncertainty could limit further gains until AI monetization becomes clearer. Agentic AI Skepticism

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday. Evercore initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. DA Davidson set a $225.00 price target on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.5%

CRM stock opened at $246.66 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11. The company has a market capitalization of $203.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The firm's 50-day moving average is $230.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company 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 business'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 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. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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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