WJ Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,986 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 208.6% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 126 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Country Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% during the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Salesforce Stock Up 2.2%
Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $189.58 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $180.24 and a fifty-two week high of $329.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $238.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.64. The company has a market cap of $177.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.
Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated bullish positioning into the company’s FQ4 earnings, suggesting traders expect an upside surprise or are hedging for volatility. What the Options Market Tells Us About Salesforce
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts are broadly constructive ahead of FQ4 2026, which supports short-term momentum and helps explain buying interest. Wall Street bullish on Salesforce (CRM) ahead of its FQ4 2026 earnings
- Positive Sentiment: Several retail/investor pieces argue the recent pullback is a buying opportunity—some investors and commentators (including a Seeking Alpha author) are actively buying the “Salesforce crash,” which can amplify demand on dips. SaaSpocalypse: Why I’m Buying The Salesforce Crash
- Positive Sentiment: Long-term bullish takes (e.g., 247WallStreet) list CRM as a top tech holding for a multi-year horizon, reinforcing buy-and-hold narratives for value/growth investors. What Is One of the Best Tech Stocks to Hold for the Next 10 Years?
- Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights CRM as a top-ranked value stock on style scores, which can attract value-oriented flows after the pullback. Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top-Ranked Value Stock: Should You Buy?
- Neutral Sentiment: New entrants are launching AI-native layers to run GTM workflows on top of any CRM—this is an emerging competitive/partner dynamic that could both pressure fees and spur integrations; impact is uncertain. Aurasell Launches World’s First AI-Native OS to Run Intelligent GTM Workflows on Any CRM
- Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces and analyst-roundup articles are dissecting whether Wall Street optimism is priced in; these pieces mostly reiterate mixed views and won’t move the stock unless they include rating changes. Analysts stay constructive on Salesforce (CRM) despite sector weakness
- Neutral Sentiment: Broad analysis on AI-driven ETF weakness asks whether the panic is overblown; this macro debate will influence sector multiples but is not specific to CRM’s near-term operations. AI Disruption Hit Multiple Sector ETFs: Is the Fear Overblown?
- Negative Sentiment: Company-level cost and leadership changes tied to its AI push were reported alongside commentary that CRM returns are weak—workforce and leadership reshaping can signal execution risk and near-term disruption. Salesforce Reshapes Workforce And Leadership As AI Push Meets Weak CRM Returns
- Negative Sentiment: Coverage explaining why CRM has recently fallen notes sector-driven selling, multiple compression, and profit-taking—these are the same dynamics that can keep upside capped until catalysts arrive. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market
- Negative Sentiment: Sector-level rout in software (ETF down sharply) driven by fears of AI replacing software workloads remains a headwind; broader sentiment could keep CRM under pressure even if fundamentals hold. 3 Historically Cheap Software Stocks Begging to Be Bought Amid the Recent Tech Rout
Insider Activity at Salesforce
In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.57.
Read Our Latest Research Report on CRM
Salesforce Profile
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.
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