Huntington National Bank Lowers Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Huntington National Bank decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 40.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 139,256 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 92,672 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $33,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argent Trust Co grew its position in Salesforce by 4.2% during the third quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 28,136 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,668,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 97.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,302 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122 shares during the period. Power Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Power Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,544 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Whalerock Point Partners LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 19,060 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,517,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has 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 $283.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $194.47 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $303.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $223.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.32.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.25%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

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.