Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 25.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 568,366 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 190,400 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $134,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Country Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 284.6% during the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 150 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.06.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $194.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $238.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $303.07. The company has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

About Salesforce

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.