Motley Fool Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 88,483 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,249 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up 0.8% of Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $20,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter worth $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Salesforce by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $844,928,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Usage-based AI billing could improve monetization. Salesforce plans to begin charging customers based on the volume of AI-agent calls in November, moving beyond a purely seat-based model. New Agent Fabric tools for testing, evaluation and cost controls may help customers adopt agents and give Salesforce a clearer path to growing AI revenue. Salesforce Brings In Usage Based AI Billing With New Agent Fabric Controls
- Positive Sentiment: Agentforce is strengthening the generative-AI investment case. Recent commentary points to improving Agentforce traction and supports the view that Salesforce can use its large customer base to commercialize AI capabilities, potentially accelerating growth beyond its core customer-management software. Agentforce Growth Strengthens Salesforce’s Generative AI Narrative
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst and valuation coverage remains generally constructive. Zacks describes CRM as a highly ranked growth stock, while other analysis argues the shares look inexpensive relative to Salesforce’s earnings power. The company’s latest reported quarter also showed strong earnings, revenue growth and profitability, supporting the bullish case. Salesforce Stock Looks Cheap Relative To Its Earnings Power
- Neutral Sentiment: Product expansion adds ecosystem value. Fastcall launched mobile calling and SMS integrations for Salesforce on iPhone and Android, broadening customer-engagement functionality, although the third-party announcement is unlikely to materially affect near-term financial results. Fastcall Launches Fastcall Mobile
- Negative Sentiment: Recent volatility reflects execution and valuation concerns. CRM fell in the previous session even as the broader market advanced, suggesting investors remain cautious about whether AI growth will offset slower underlying growth and justify the stock’s valuation. The shift to usage-based pricing also introduces uncertainty around revenue predictability and customer adoption.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Salesforce
Insider Activity
In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director 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. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Salesforce Price Performance
CRM opened at $242.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $199.18. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The company has a market cap of $199.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.
About Salesforce
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.
Featured Stories
- Five stocks we like better than Salesforce
- Boeing Got Its MAX 10 Approval, But Q3 Delivered a Reality Check
- The Invisible AI Backbone: Corning’s AI Fiber Play
- Heavy Metal: Why Nucor Could Be an Overlooked AI Infrastructure Winner
- Why Tesla’s Upside Is About More Than a SpaceX Merger
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Salesforce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Salesforce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
