Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: King Luther Capital Management Corp Lowers Stake

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 168,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 15,662 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $38,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. CFM Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $274,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 48,789 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,200,000 after buying an additional 5,728 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 51.4% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 22,990 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,278,000 after buying an additional 7,808 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.6% in the third quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 58,674 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,470,000 after buying an additional 3,098 shares during the period. Finally, Cherokee Insurance Co bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $207,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Roundup

Investors following CRM have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s free cash flow supports substantial share buybacks and dividends, potentially sustaining shareholder returns. However, slower growth projections raise questions about how durable those payouts will be. CRM’s Cash Flow Strength: Can It Sustain Big Shareholder Returns?
• Positive Sentiment: Missionforce National Security received “Awardable” status in a federal solutions marketplace, giving Department of War organizations access to Salesforce’s recruiting capabilities. This could support government-sector opportunities, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Missionforce National Security Achieves Awardable Status
• Negative Sentiment: S&P cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A, citing concerns linked to deals and the company’s planned $25 billion buyback. The downgrade spotlights potential balance-sheet and capital-allocation risks. Salesforce Sinks as S&P Cuts Its Rating to A on Deals and a $25 Billion Buyback

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Bank of America upgraded Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a report on Monday, October 12th. Argus upped their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price objective on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $217.35 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $236.99 and its 200-day moving average is $198.48. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.