Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 335,326 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 38,669 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $76,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV now owns 6,422 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 3,396 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $780,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,714 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on CRM shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays downgraded shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:CRM opened at $241.77 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $234.26 and a 200 day moving average of $196.07. The firm has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Braze for $47.50 per share in cash, a roughly 58% premium. Braze’s real-time customer data and engagement technology could strengthen Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud and provide infrastructure for its Agentforce artificial-intelligence platform. The transaction is expected to close in fiscal 2028, subject to regulatory review. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Braze
• Positive Sentiment: UBS called the deal a solid strategic fit at a reasonable price, while Jefferies said it could improve Salesforce’s marketing capabilities and encourage broader consolidation across the software industry. The acquisition may allow Salesforce to add capabilities faster than building comparable real-time data infrastructure internally. Salesforce’s Braze deal wins UBS backing on strategy, but growth concerns remain
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “overweight” rating and set a $300 price target, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. Other recent commentary highlighted Salesforce’s strong cash generation, approximately 22% net margin, active buyback program and improving AI- and data-related growth prospects.
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has significantly outperformed the broader market over the past six months, and valuation-focused research from Zacks describes CRM as a highly ranked value stock. However, comparisons with Oracle and Autodesk indicate that investors are still assessing which software companies offer the best combination of growth and valuation. Salesforce is a Top-Ranked Value Stock
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate market reaction has been negative because Salesforce is paying a large premium for a target that remains unprofitable, while committing significant cash to another major acquisition following its Informatica and Loops investments. Investors are concerned about integration costs, overlapping operations, antitrust scrutiny and the risk that the deal distracts from organic growth.
• Negative Sentiment: UBS also warned that the Braze transaction could renew questions about Salesforce’s ability to generate faster organic growth. The stock’s direction will likely depend on whether management can retain Braze’s customers, integrate its technology and convert the combined platform into accelerating revenue and Agentforce adoption.

Salesforce Profile

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.