Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Cuts Position

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lessened its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 111,267 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 16,238 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $25,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Salesforce by 130.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Salesforce by 28.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,724,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,188,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,561,923 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $844,928,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.3%

CRM opened at $241.77 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $234.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.26. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s 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. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.

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.