Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Orange Investment Advisors Inc. Reduces Position

Orange Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,720 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,829 shares during the period. Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CRM. Winter & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $270,000. Compass Ion Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC now owns 4,970 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $264,000. Mainsail Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC now owns 8,839 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 10,087 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,316,000 after buying an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 12th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CRM opened at $248.79 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The stock has a market cap of $204.76 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $236.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.97.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Key Salesforce News

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 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.