Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stake Raised by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 53.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 765,663 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 266,304 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 0.8% of Candriam S.C.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Candriam S.C.A. owned approximately 0.09% of Salesforce worth $176,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Salesforce by 130.2% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Salesforce by 28.0% in the first 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s planned acquisition of AI voice-agent company Cresta could strengthen Agentforce and Service Cloud, adding capabilities for customer-service automation. The deal also brings acquisition costs and execution risks. Article: Salesforce Bets on AI Voice Agents With Planned Cresta Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Salesforce from “hold” to “strong buy,” a favorable analyst signal that may help counter near-term concerns. Article: Zacks Research rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding its Coworker offering and promoting a 21-times growth claim, but the report notes that no baseline is provided, making the figure difficult to assess. Article: Salesforce Expands Coworker’s Reach, but Its 21× Growth Claim Has No Baseline
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is extending Agent Fabric to help businesses manage AI agents across platforms. Its large customer base and reported 1.2 billion daily requests suggest potential, but investors still need evidence that the AI activity will translate into meaningful revenue. Article: Salesforce Stock: The 1 Number Investors Still Need to See
• Negative Sentiment: A broader software sell-off is weighing on CRM, while S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A from A+. S&P cited acquisition spending and a $25 billion debt-financed buyback, which lifted pro forma net debt relative to EBITDA above its previous downgrade threshold. The rating action raises concerns about leverage and aggressive capital allocation. Article: S&P cuts Salesforce to A on rising acquisition debt and buybacks

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $213.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $176.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $239.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.64.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company 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, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce.

The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce’s products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.

Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and other co-founders, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco.