Payden & Rygel Purchases New Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Payden & Rygel bought a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 61,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,164,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on CRM. Freedom Broker increased their price objective on Salesforce from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 11th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of CRM opened at $228.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $188.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s fifty day moving average is $238.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.88. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 payout ratio is 16.04%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rune Technologies, a defense-technology company. The deal supports Salesforce’s push into military and government applications, potentially expanding its addressable market and adding a specialized technology platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Rune Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: TPM Holdings completed an 18-month realignment centered on Salesforce CRM and artificial intelligence for the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Its combination of TrebleHook and The Hunley Group could expand Salesforce-based implementations and demonstrate growing demand for industry-specific AI tools. TPM Holdings Accelerates Investment in AI and Salesforce CRM
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst and investment articles describe Salesforce as a potential AI rebound candidate, citing autonomous AI agents, improving monetization, strong free cash flow and its leadership in customer relationship management. These views may support longer-term sentiment, although they are not new company guidance. AI Comeback Story Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s earnings report is approaching, making upcoming revenue growth, AI adoption, margins and forward guidance the main near-term catalysts. The company’s latest reported quarter included revenue of $11.35 billion and adjusted earnings that exceeded consensus estimates. Salesforce Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce declined in sympathy with ServiceNow, Fortinet and other software stocks after investors focused on slower contracted-revenue growth despite earnings beats and higher AI targets. The reaction has renewed concerns about enterprise-software demand, AI monetization timelines and elevated sector valuations. ServiceNow Results Dent Software Stocks

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.