Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 13.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 62,853 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,371 shares during the quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Country Trust Bank raised its holdings in Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.3%

NYSE CRM opened at $192.63 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.09. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $177.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.06.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is rolling out Agentforce, its contact-center-as-a-service push aimed at replacing fragmented contact-center stacks—this could deepen wallet-share with large enterprise customers and support growth in CRM-adjacent services. Salesforce Aims to End the ‘Frankenstein’ Contact Center With Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce added six Agentforce Health agents pre-wired with integrations for healthcare workflows—strengthens vertical product shelf and could accelerate adoption in a high-value industry. Salesforce Announces Six New Agentforce Health Agents Pre-Wired With Rich Integrations
• Positive Sentiment: Management intends to use net proceeds from the $25B senior-note offering to fund buybacks—this can be EPS-accretive and supports shareholder returns if repurchases are executed. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst roundups following Salesforce’s fiscal Q4 results highlight mixed views—earnings beat and guidance were solid, but some analysts remain cautious on valuation and AI execution risk. What are Analysts Thinking of Salesforce (CRM) Following Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results?
• Neutral Sentiment: Formal notice that the $25B notes have been priced is a factual development—markets are focused on coupon levels and close conditions. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive ecosystem moves: LivePerson launched integrations that work with Salesforce, underscoring partner/competitor dynamics in conversational AI and contact-center orchestration. LivePerson Announces Event-driven Orchestration Partnership with Coral Active
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary warns investors demanded higher yields on the bond sale—Zacks flags caution around rising leverage and AI uncertainty, which can pressure multiples and sentiment. Salesforce Taps Bonds for Buybacks as Investors Demand More Yield
• Negative Sentiment: Recent analyst downgrade(s) and at least one pessimistic price forecast have added selling pressure and negative sentiment near term. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade Northland Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

About Salesforce

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.