Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Sold by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue trimmed its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 77,583 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,571 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $17,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth about $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,846,000 after buying an additional 3,125 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $142,521,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $289.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Argus upped their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM traded up $8.11 on Thursday, hitting $244.06. The stock had a trading volume of 4,579,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,553,821. The company’s 50-day moving average is $229.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.02. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $269.11. The stock has a market cap of $200.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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 expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades support the stock. Salesforce shares gained following recent analyst upgrades, reflecting increased confidence in the company’s earnings outlook and potential for further appreciation. Salesforce Shares Climb on Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: AI integration is strengthening Salesforce’s core platform. Harris Oakmark highlighted Salesforce’s ability to integrate AI into its enterprise software, potentially increasing customer value and supporting long-term growth. A separate comparison concluded that Salesforce has stronger earnings-estimate revisions, faster AI growth and a lower valuation than ServiceNow. Salesforce AI Integration Enhances Platform Value Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Positive Sentiment: Hunter sales agent gains a data partnership. ZoomInfo’s designation as a flagship data partner for Salesforce’s new Hunter outbound sales agent provides evidence of ecosystem support for Sales Cloud’s AI capabilities. Hunter uses live prospect intelligence to help prioritize accounts and recommend sales actions. ZoomInfo Named a Flagship Data Partner for Hunter
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector sentiment is improving. ServiceNow’s denial of acquisition interest in Decagon helped lift parts of the enterprise-software group, indirectly benefiting Salesforce. However, the development does not materially change Salesforce’s fundamentals. ServiceNow and Salesforce Market Moves
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain skeptical about AI monetization. Despite strong earnings, the market continues to question whether agentic AI will generate meaningful incremental profit. Salesforce also faces slower reported revenue growth than ServiceNow and must convert AI adoption into measurable expansion. Agentic AI Skepticism

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.