Calamos Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 23.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 323,742 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,172 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $74,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce
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
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 12th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $289.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.
Get Our Latest Analysis on CRM
Salesforce Stock Performance
Shares of CRM traded down $8.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $213.96. 6,708,466 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,142,592. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. Analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
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.
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