Community Trust & Investment Co. Purchases 9,743 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 138,996 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,743 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises about 1.6% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $31,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Salesforce by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after buying an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: An analyst upgrade helped lift Salesforce, adding to favorable sentiment around its valuation, earnings outlook and AI growth prospects. Salesforce Shares Climb on Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce benefited from broad strength in enterprise software and a major United Kingdom deal, while technical analysts pointed to a bullish flag breakout, a double-bottom pattern and a weekly reversal that could extend the recovery. Why Is Salesforce Stock Gaining Thursday? Salesforce Price Forecast
• Positive Sentiment: ZoomInfo was named a flagship data partner for Salesforce’s new Hunter outbound sales agent. Hunter will combine CRM data with live intelligence to identify prospects and recommend next actions, reinforcing Salesforce’s strategy of embedding AI into Sales Cloud. ZoomInfo Named a Flagship Data Partner for Hunter
• Positive Sentiment: One investment-fund review argued that Salesforce’s AI integration is increasing the value of its core enterprise platform. Another comparison gave Salesforce an edge over ServiceNow based on stronger earnings-estimate revisions, faster AI growth and a lower valuation. Salesforce AI Integration Enhances Platform Value Salesforce vs. ServiceNow
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors continue comparing Salesforce with ServiceNow. Salesforce generates more revenue, but ServiceNow has posted faster and more consistent year-over-year growth, highlighting the need for Salesforce to accelerate its expansion. Salesforce vs. ServiceNow Revenue Trends
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors remain skeptical that agentic AI will meaningfully improve Salesforce’s profits, particularly because many customers have not yet upgraded to newer offerings. That uncertainty could limit further gains until AI monetization becomes clearer. Agentic AI Skepticism

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. HC Wainwright cut Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.5%

CRM stock opened at $246.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $203.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $230.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.50. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.