Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Eagle Strategies LLC Trims Holdings

Eagle Strategies LLC cut its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 63.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 7,137 shares during the quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $267,000. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its position in Salesforce by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 592 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $262,000. Michael J. Porro & Co. Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $253,000. Finally, Goldstein Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $266,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $241.00 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $231.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.82. The company has a market capitalization of $198.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.26. 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) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for 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%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Hunter, an AI-powered outbound sales agent built on Agentforce. Integrations with ZoomInfo, Demandbase and DocuSign could increase adoption of Salesforce’s higher-value AI workflows and make the platform more embedded in customers’ sales and contracting processes. Salesforce unveils Hunter for AI-powered outbound sales
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reportedly upgraded Salesforce in a rare double upgrade, citing improving confidence in the company’s AI strategy, including a small AI acquisition and changes to AI-product pricing. The upgrade supports the view that monetization could improve as customers move to premium offerings. Salesforce received a rare double upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: The Loops AI acquisition and new Agentforce capabilities reinforce Salesforce’s effort to turn AI into a growth driver, although investors will need evidence of meaningful revenue acceleration. Salesforce buys the Loops AI platform
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor interest in CRM has risen sharply, with Salesforce appearing among heavily searched stocks. This may increase visibility but is not, by itself, a fundamental catalyst. Investors heavily search Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Enterprise-software shares are falling as worries spread that aggressive AI infrastructure and financing commitments may not generate sufficient returns. Salesforce is being pulled lower alongside other AI-linked software leaders. Enterprise software stocks fall as AI financing worries spread
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are comparing Salesforce’s premium-edition price increases with Adobe’s more user-friendly pricing approach, raising concerns that Salesforce’s AI monetization strategy could pressure customer upgrades or retention. Adobe versus Salesforce for AI software growth

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $289.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Phillip Securities cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. CLSA assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, July 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.