Salesforce Inc. $CRM Holdings Lifted by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 53.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 765,663 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 266,304 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for 0.8% of Candriam S.C.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $176,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Chapman Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 152.4% in the third quarter. Chapman Investment Management LLC now owns 2,757 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 8,014 shares in the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.8% during the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 9,088 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 111,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,603,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 77.5% during the third quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 5,621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Formidable Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 14.6% during the third quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 7,570 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, 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. Four research 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.8%

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

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given 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

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’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 value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

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.