Federated Hermes Inc. Has $305.05 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 85.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,287,130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 592,587 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.14% of Salesforce worth $305,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EPG Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 64.6% during the third quarter. EPG Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,031,000 after purchasing an additional 5,020 shares in the last quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 73.1% during the 3rd quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,577 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,530 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after buying an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triton Financial Group Inc grew its position in Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Triton Financial Group Inc now owns 5,645 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Won a major U.S. Army national-security IDIQ worth up to $5.6 billion over 10 years via its national-security unit Computable Insights / Missionforce National Security — a sizeable, multi-year revenue opportunity and credibility boost for Salesforce’s AI/data offerings in government. U.S. Army Awards Salesforce $5.6B Contract
• Positive Sentiment: Additional coverage and commentary highlight the same $5.6B win and frame it as a catalyst for investor interest and valuation support — analysts and outlets are re-evaluating Salesforce’s growth runway given this contract. Salesforce wins $5.6B US Army contract
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and relative-stock comparisons are generally favorable: some analysts and writeups argue Salesforce is a stronger enterprise-software buy than Adobe today, citing AI (Agentforce) momentum and improving margins — supportive for sentiment and potential upgrades. CRM vs. ADBE: Which Enterprise Software Stock Is the Better Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays notes macro and IT spending remain stable — a steady-market backdrop that reduces downside risk from cyclical IT cuts but doesn’t necessarily accelerate growth. Barclays says macro and IT spending remain stable
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 139,574 restricted stock units to employees from recent acquisitions (Apromore, Spindle AI, Informatica) under its inducement plan — standard integration compensation; small potential dilution but routine for M&A hires. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore, Spindle AI, and Informatica Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Heightened investor attention and analyst optimism pieces are circulating (Zacks, Finbold), which can boost trading volume and short-term interest but don’t by themselves change fundamentals. Is Salesforce.com (CRM) a Buy as Wall Street Analysts Look Optimistic?
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/market-warning signals have been flagged: some analysts note price-trend deterioration (“triple red”) despite solid operations, which can trigger short-term selling pressure from trend-followers. CRM Stock Is Flashing A Warning Signal
• Negative Sentiment: Some deep-dive coverage (Seeking Alpha) emphasizes a lower growth outlook vs. prior expectations, arguing valuation concerns remain despite claims of undervaluation — a narrative that can weigh on longer-term sentiment. Salesforce: Lower Growth Outlook But Extremely Undervalued

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total value of $580,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,567,632.20. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 140,927 shares of company stock worth $33,146,979. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $228.58 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $218.96 and a 12-month high of $367.09. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $247.29 and a 200-day moving average of $248.23. The company has a market capitalization of $214.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. 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 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CRM. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.51.

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.