Eastern Bank Decreases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Posted by ABMN Staff on Jan 15th, 2026

Eastern Bank cut its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 52.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,145 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 10,188 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Painted Porch Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 260.0% in the second quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 208.6% in 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 in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of CRM opened at $239.47 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $249.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $251.04. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.96 and a 12-month high of $367.09. 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 has a market cap of $224.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Northland Capmk cut Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.50.

Read Our Latest Report on Salesforce

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy and a $330 price target — a high‑profile analyst start that supports upside from current levels and may attract momentum buyers. Goldman Sachs Assumes Coverage of Salesforce (CRM) Stock
Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched its revamped Slackbot (general availability) — an Agentforce/Slack integration powered by Anthropic that could drive product differentiation, higher ARPU and enterprise upsells if adoption scales. Salesforce releases updated Slackbot powered by Anthropic’s AI model
Positive Sentiment: Partner ecosystem strength: Coastal (a Salesforce/AI consultancy) was acquired by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), potentially expanding global implementation capacity for Salesforce-led transformations. That can help enterprise deal flow over time. Coastal Joins Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to Accelerate Salesforce-Led Transformation at Global Scale
Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media bullish narratives (Zacks, MarketBeat, Forbes, Seeking Alpha) highlight long‑term AI/cross‑cloud opportunity and argue the stock is undervalued — supportive for sentiment but not an immediate earnings catalyst. Why Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
Negative Sentiment: Short‑term selling pressure is driven by concerns over slowing revenue growth and investor debate on AI monetization; commentary and headlines flag a pullback in shares and caution on near‑term execution. Why Salesforce (CRM) shares are plunging today
Negative Sentiment: Growth is cooling to single digits in places, so the market is watching whether initiatives like Data 360 and Agentforce convert into materially higher‑value contracts soon enough to reaccelerate revenue. Can Salesforce’s Data 360 Push Drive Its Next Phase of Sales Growth?

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,567,632.20. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 150,534 shares of company stock valued at $35,636,954 over the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Salesforce

(Free Report)

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.