National Pension Service Sells 106,284 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

National Pension Service decreased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,057,099 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 106,284 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.25% of Salesforce worth $322,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Synergy Financial Group LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD now owns 2,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 199 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 8,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,187,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $244.19 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Susquehanna initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Salesforce from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.50.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum is improving. Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surpassed $1.5 billion, signaling increasing customer adoption of Salesforce’s AI agents. However, the business remains relatively small compared with Salesforce’s overall revenue base, suggesting a gradual rather than explosive effect on growth. Agentforce ARR Hits $1.5B: Can It Boost Salesforce’s Revenue Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to identify long-term growth potential. Coverage points to stabilizing growth, rising AI monetization and a valuation that remains below some major enterprise-software peers. Salesforce’s recent earnings beat, including quarterly revenue of $11.35 billion and earnings of $5.90 per share, also supports the bullish case. Why Salesforce Is a Top Growth Stock for the Long Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting next week’s Dreamforce and Investor Day events. Management could provide additional details on Agentforce adoption, AI monetization and future growth targets, potentially clarifying whether the recent rally can continue. Salesforce Is Nearly Fully Priced: Why Bulls Say This Is Just the Beginning
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire Listen Labs for approximately $2 billion. The AI customer-research platform was last valued at about $500 million, raising concerns about the purchase price, integration risk and whether the acquisition will generate sufficient returns. The uncertainty appears to be weighing on CRM. Salesforce Has Held Talks to Buy Listen Labs
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and profit-taking remain risks. After a sharp recent rally, some commentary describes the stock as close to fully priced, leaving less room for disappointment if AI revenue growth does not accelerate rapidly. Salesforce Stock Gains 34% in a Month

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology and related enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data analytics and business operations through subscription-based software and cloud services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud and the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and artificial intelligence capabilities, including its Agentforce platform for building and deploying AI agents.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves businesses and organizations across a broad range of industries and geographic markets worldwide.