National Pension Service Sells 106,284 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

National Pension Service lessened its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,057,099 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 106,284 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $322,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its position in Salesforce by 190.4% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 26,644 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,174,000 after acquiring an additional 17,470 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its holdings in Salesforce by 12,313.4% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 232,378 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $36,404,000 after purchasing an additional 230,506 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 23.8% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares in the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 26,902 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,214,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 17,677 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum is improving. Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surpassed $1.5 billion, signaling increasing customer adoption of Salesforce’s AI agents. However, the business remains relatively small compared with Salesforce’s overall revenue base, suggesting a gradual rather than explosive effect on growth. Agentforce ARR Hits $1.5B: Can It Boost Salesforce’s Revenue Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to identify long-term growth potential. Coverage points to stabilizing growth, rising AI monetization and a valuation that remains below some major enterprise-software peers. Salesforce’s recent earnings beat, including quarterly revenue of $11.35 billion and earnings of $5.90 per share, also supports the bullish case. Why Salesforce Is a Top Growth Stock for the Long Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting next week’s Dreamforce and Investor Day events. Management could provide additional details on Agentforce adoption, AI monetization and future growth targets, potentially clarifying whether the recent rally can continue. Salesforce Is Nearly Fully Priced: Why Bulls Say This Is Just the Beginning
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire Listen Labs for approximately $2 billion. The AI customer-research platform was last valued at about $500 million, raising concerns about the purchase price, integration risk and whether the acquisition will generate sufficient returns. The uncertainty appears to be weighing on CRM. Salesforce Has Held Talks to Buy Listen Labs
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and profit-taking remain risks. After a sharp recent rally, some commentary describes the stock as close to fully priced, leaving less room for disappointment if AI revenue growth does not accelerate rapidly. Salesforce Stock Gains 34% in a Month

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright cut shares of Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $266.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $244.19 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The stock has a market cap of $200.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $197.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.34.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm 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 firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.65 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology and related enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data analytics and business operations through subscription-based software and cloud services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud and the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and artificial intelligence capabilities, including its Agentforce platform for building and deploying AI agents.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves businesses and organizations across a broad range of industries and geographic markets worldwide.