Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Sold by St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 95.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 979 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 20,450 shares during the period. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $267,000. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 592 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $262,000. Michael J. Porro & Co. Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $253,000. Finally, Goldstein Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $266,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.3%

NYSE CRM traded down $5.74 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $241.00. 8,338,232 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,674,550. The company has a 50 day moving average of $231.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.82. 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 firm has a market cap of $198.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Hunter, an AI-powered outbound sales agent built on Agentforce. Integrations with ZoomInfo, Demandbase and DocuSign could increase adoption of Salesforce’s higher-value AI workflows and make the platform more embedded in customers’ sales and contracting processes. Salesforce unveils Hunter for AI-powered outbound sales
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reportedly upgraded Salesforce in a rare double upgrade, citing improving confidence in the company’s AI strategy, including a small AI acquisition and changes to AI-product pricing. The upgrade supports the view that monetization could improve as customers move to premium offerings. Salesforce received a rare double upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: The Loops AI acquisition and new Agentforce capabilities reinforce Salesforce’s effort to turn AI into a growth driver, although investors will need evidence of meaningful revenue acceleration. Salesforce buys the Loops AI platform
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor interest in CRM has risen sharply, with Salesforce appearing among heavily searched stocks. This may increase visibility but is not, by itself, a fundamental catalyst. Investors heavily search Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Enterprise-software shares are falling as worries spread that aggressive AI infrastructure and financing commitments may not generate sufficient returns. Salesforce is being pulled lower alongside other AI-linked software leaders. Enterprise software stocks fall as AI financing worries spread
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are comparing Salesforce’s premium-edition price increases with Adobe’s more user-friendly pricing approach, raising concerns that Salesforce’s AI monetization strategy could pressure customer upgrades or retention. Adobe versus Salesforce for AI software growth

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Susquehanna began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.12.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.