Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,045 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 7,157 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 1.9% in the second quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce expanded its Agentforce AI platform with new partnerships and sector moves (including a Formula 1 fan companion agent) that show progress commercializing AI across verticals. Salesforce Expands Agentforce With Formula 1 Partnership And Finance Shift
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Contact Center to integrate AI, voice and CRM — a product move that targets high-value contact-center spend and could accelerate revenue per customer if adoption scales. Salesforce Launches Agentforce Contact Center to Unify AI, Voice and CRM
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party ecosystem activity: Pimly launched a Product Intelligence solution on Salesforce’s AgentExchange, which could increase platform stickiness and extend use cases for front-office AI workflows. Pimly Product Intelligence Launch May Deepen Salesforce Platform Usage And Value
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive/market commentary: HubSpot (HUBS) reported strong subscription growth — a reminder of CRM competition that can influence investor sentiment around SaaS growth comps. HUBS Rides on Solid Subscriber Revenue Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Opinion pieces argue Salesforce is undervalued after recent weakness, framing current weakness as a buying opportunity if management executes on AI monetization. Salesforce: The SaaSpocalypse Created A Rare Buying Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Long-form analysis and sector context (e.g., Forbes piece on CRM’s path) highlight that sentiment about AI and guidance, not just fundamentals, is driving recent volatility. CRM Stock: Path To $260
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rose ~14.8% in February to ~21.9M shares (about 2.4% of shares), signaling increased bearish positioning that can amplify near-term downside pressure. (SEC/market short-interest report)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target trims: Northland cut its target to $229 (market-perform) and DA Davidson cut its target to $200 while keeping Neutral — fresh PT reductions that reinforce cautious near-term expectations. Northland Cuts Price Target DA Davidson Lowers PT on Salesforce

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $194.78 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $214.43 and a 200-day moving average of $236.09. The company has a market cap of $179.78 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BTIG Research decreased their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.06.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.