Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Simplify Asset Management Inc.

Simplify Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 68.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,414 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,006 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $240,000. BLB&B Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 82,840 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $19,018,000 after buying an additional 2,030 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,343,000. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 225,477 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $51,763,000 after buying an additional 53,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Mack & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $113,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $289.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Three 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce News Roundup

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.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $242.37 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $237.98 and a 200 day moving average of $199.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. The business’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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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 $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was 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 insiders.

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.