NorthRock Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,677 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,748 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD now owns 2,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 199 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 8,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,187,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CRM. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. 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

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value 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. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines 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

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $244.19 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $200.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $197.36 and a 200-day moving average of $186.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 currently 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.