Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stake Boosted by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 716,041 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,804 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for approximately 3.6% of Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $169,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 208.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 126 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.0%

Salesforce stock opened at $187.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $176.05 billion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $180.24 and a 12 month high of $329.74. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $233.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New partner integrations with Salesforce expand go‑to‑market and reinforce AppExchange monetization (AcuityMD launched an AcuityMD app on the Salesforce AppExchange). AcuityMD for Salesforce Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Asymbl expanded collaboration aims to boost Salesforce’s AI workforce orchestration capabilities — incremental product wins that support long‑term AI positioning. Asymbl Collaboration
• Positive Sentiment: Some sell‑side support remains: BTIG kept a Buy rating despite lowering its target (shows split analyst views and pockets of conviction). BTIG Research Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target (from $265 to $235) and moved to Equal Weight — a downgrade in upside but not a bearish stance. Wells Fargo Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup trimmed its target sharply to $197 and set a Neutral rating — lowers analyst support and narrows upside from current levels. Citigroup Note
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC issued a Hold, reflecting more cautious near‑term sentiment from another major shop. RBC Hold
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS checks show an uptick in Agentforce but “muted” core growth — mixed operational signals ahead of earnings. UBS Checks
• Negative Sentiment: Mizuho issued a pessimistic forecast and lowered expectations, adding to the negative analyst momentum that’s pressuring the share price. Mizuho Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple downgrades and price‑target cuts triggered near‑term selling (reports note the stock trading down after an analyst downgrade). Analyst Downgrade / Trading Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI‑sized SaaS fears and sector volatility (the “SaaSpocalypse” narrative) continue to pressure enterprise software multiples and weigh on CRM sentiment. Sector AI Fears

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.