Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Purchased by Kestra Advisory Services LLC

Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,281 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,811 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $27,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Collaborative Fund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $614,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 392 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 43.6% in the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 915 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 8.4% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 19,601 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 23.6% in the third quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,027 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of CRM opened at $213.96 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $239.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.64. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The company has a market capitalization of $176.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s planned acquisition of AI voice-agent company Cresta could strengthen Agentforce and Service Cloud, adding capabilities for customer-service automation. The deal also brings acquisition costs and execution risks. Article: Salesforce Bets on AI Voice Agents With Planned Cresta Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Salesforce from “hold” to “strong buy,” a favorable analyst signal that may help counter near-term concerns. Article: Zacks Research rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding its Coworker offering and promoting a 21-times growth claim, but the report notes that no baseline is provided, making the figure difficult to assess. Article: Salesforce Expands Coworker’s Reach, but Its 21× Growth Claim Has No Baseline
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is extending Agent Fabric to help businesses manage AI agents across platforms. Its large customer base and reported 1.2 billion daily requests suggest potential, but investors still need evidence that the AI activity will translate into meaningful revenue. Article: Salesforce Stock: The 1 Number Investors Still Need to See
• Negative Sentiment: A broader software sell-off is weighing on CRM, while S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A from A+. S&P cited acquisition spending and a $25 billion debt-financed buyback, which lifted pro forma net debt relative to EBITDA above its previous downgrade threshold. The rating action raises concerns about leverage and aggressive capital allocation. Article: S&P cuts Salesforce to A on rising acquisition debt and buybacks

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Yorkville Ives assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.98.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce.

The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce’s products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.

Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and other co-founders, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco.