Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Sold by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH decreased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 874,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 25,653 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up 1.0% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $200,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at about $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $142,521,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade and AI acquisition support sentiment: Bank of America reportedly issued a rare double upgrade, arguing that Salesforce’s AI offerings could deepen customer dependence on its platform. The bullish call followed Salesforce’s agreement to acquire AI-powered analytics platform Loops, which could strengthen its data and analytics capabilities. Salesforce Gets a Rare BofA Double Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Technical setup points to additional upside: A weekly bullish reversal, daily double-bottom pattern and potential bullish-flag breakout suggest the post-breakout pullback may be ending, according to technical analysis. Salesforce Price Forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded DocuSign partnership adds an AI workflow catalyst: DocuSign’s Intelligent Agreement Management platform will be integrated natively with Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack, potentially increasing the usefulness of Salesforce’s AI agents for revenue teams. DocuSign and Salesforce Launch Intelligent Agreement Management
• Neutral Sentiment: Relative valuation looks favorable: One comparison with ServiceNow concluded Salesforce has stronger earnings estimate revisions, faster AI growth and a lower valuation, although investors still need evidence that those advantages will translate into sustained growth. Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Negative Sentiment: AI monetization remains the key overhang: Despite earnings beats, skeptics question whether agentic AI can materially improve Salesforce’s profits. Reports also highlight AI cannibalization risks and note that many customers have not yet adopted a potentially important upgrade, leaving investors cautious about near-term revenue acceleration. Agentic AI Skepticism

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. HC Wainwright downgraded Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore started coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson set a $225.00 price target on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $235.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $194.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $229.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.02. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce 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.