Salesforce Inc. $CRM Holdings Raised by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 47,618 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,920 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Salesforce by 130.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 28.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,724,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,188,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,561,923 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $844,928,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $289.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Three 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI products are reportedly growing at triple-digit rates, while its Agentforce platform and more than $14 billion in annual free cash flow could support profitable expansion. The company’s valuation may look attractive if AI adoption accelerates. Salesforce Is Betting Big on AI. The Payoff Could Be Bigger Than Investors Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “Overweight” rating, indicating continued confidence in Salesforce’s growth outlook and AI transition. Salesforce Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: The $5.66 billion Braze purchase could expand Salesforce’s customer-engagement capabilities and strengthen its push from AI defense toward a broader autonomous-agent strategy. Salesforce’s $5.6B Braze Buyout
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor comparisons with Adobe, Arista Networks and Snowflake highlight Salesforce’s CRM leadership, focus on profitable growth and AI-agent pivot, but do not represent new company-specific developments. Salesforce vs. Snowflake
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may be concerned that the Braze acquisition’s $5.66 billion price will increase integration risk and pressure near-term returns. Questions about contracts, pricing and customer impact could temper enthusiasm for the deal. Salesforce to Buy Braze for $5.66B

Salesforce Trading Down 0.6%

Salesforce stock traded down $1.50 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $248.79. 5,840,500 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,129,057. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $236.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.88. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $204.76 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.26. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.