Hemenway Trust Co LLC Raises Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Hemenway Trust Co LLC raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,030 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,311 shares during the period. Hemenway Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $12,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after purchasing an additional 748,772 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,452,998,000 after buying an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after acquiring an additional 114,504 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $2,826,049,000. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Salesforce by 26.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,087,545,000 after buying an additional 1,612,413 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.89.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of CRM opened at $185.35 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $180.24 and a 52-week high of $324.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $232.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $173.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha upgraded CRM to Buy, arguing Q4 could prove a catalyst (revenue acceleration, backlog expansion, clearer AI impacts). Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BTIG cut its price target (from $335 to $260) but maintained a Buy rating — a bullish vote despite the reduced conviction level. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple bullish analyst/coverage pieces highlight Agentforce and Salesforce’s founder-led durability as reasons CRM can defend/grow in an AI-driven market. Agentforce Article Founder-Led Article
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC issued a Hold and Wells Fargo moved to Equal Weight after trimming targets, signaling more cautious near-term expectations from big banks. RBC Hold Wells Fargo/Citigroup notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend/earnings-watch pieces and “buy-the-dip” technical calls argue CRM may be oversold and ripe for a reversal; these are supportive but speculative until Q4 results. Buy-the-dip Article
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually heavy put buying — investors purchased ~131,990 put options (≈ +84% vs. typical volume) — indicates elevated bearish hedging/speculation that can pressure the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and pessimistic forecasts (e.g., Mizuho; a separate trading note flagged a downgrade that pushed shares lower) are weighing on sentiment and liquidity. Mizuho Forecast Trading Down After Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Sector weakness tied to AI-driven re-ratings in software (examples: Palo Alto guidance reaction) and headlines labeling CRM among the Dow’s laggards add downward pressure. CNBC Sector Piece 247WallSt

Salesforce Company 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.