Carmel Capital Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Carmel Capital Partners LLC lessened its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 45.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,078 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,536 shares during the quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 27,361.5% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1,729.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $538,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,297 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,087,545,000 after buying an additional 1,612,413 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 45.8% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,931,945 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,072,202,000 after buying an additional 1,234,969 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 145,427 shares of company stock worth $34,290,361. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $228.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $213.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $247.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.30. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.96 and a 1-year high of $367.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS 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 business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.51.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts note Salesforce’s push into agentic AI (Agentforce) and continued monetization of Data Cloud as potential drivers to reignite revenue growth and margins, which investors view as a credible growth pathway. Salesforce Bets on Agentic AI: Will It Reignite CRM’s Revenue Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary highlights Salesforce’s recent market outperformance and investor attention after its latest session close, reinforcing momentum among buyers. Salesforce.com (CRM) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish takes (Seeking Alpha, Forbes) argue the selloff is overdone and that CRM is trading in a historical support range, framing the stock as a potential buying opportunity for contrarian investors. Salesforce: The Selloff Is Overdone, A Contrarian Buy Opportunity (Rating Upgrade)
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile coverage (Jim Cramer) is calling attention to Salesforce’s seat-based model and platform strategy; increased media focus can boost flows but doesn’t by itself change fundamentals. Jim Cramer Discusses Salesforce (CRM)’s Seat Model
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings previews are mixed: Salesforce posted $3.25 EPS vs. $2.86 consensus and ~9% YoY revenue growth, with Q4 FY2026 EPS guidance of $3.02–$3.04—numbers that support valuation but leave some growth questions. Salesforce earnings preview: What to expect
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure from vertical SaaS peers (notably Veeva in life sciences) and questions about services execution are being raised as risks to Salesforce’s growth and win rates in certain industries. Veeva vs Salesforce – the services questions that Life Sciences organizations need to be asking – and time is running
• Negative Sentiment: Analyses and headlines flag investor concerns—slowing growth relative to lofty AI expectations and valuation risks—which have contributed to recent volatility and caution among some funds. What Is Spooking CRM Stock Investors?
• Negative Sentiment: Some outlets include Salesforce on “stocks to avoid” lists amid the AI hype, highlighting execution and competitive risks that could pressure sentiment if growth disappoints. Top 5 Stocks to Avoid Despite the AI Hype

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.