Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $1.35 Billion Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,681,346 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 136,470 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,346,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report 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 given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.51.

Salesforce News Summary

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

Salesforce Trading Down 0.4%

CRM opened at $228.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $214.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $247.29 and its 200-day moving average is $248.23. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.96 and a 1-year high of $367.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. The firm’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. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors 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 yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.