Advisors Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,075 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,491 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and trade pieces argue the AI-driven sell-off is overdone and position Salesforce as an underrated leader in AI-native SaaS; MarketBeat highlights bullish analyst coverage and potential upside from upcoming earnings/guidance. AI Disruption Overblown
• Positive Sentiment: Long-form bullish thesis (Seeking Alpha) frames the recent pullback as sentiment-driven, points to durable SaaS metrics (large RPO, subscription growth, AI monetization) and a multi-quarter upside scenario — a buy-the-dip argument for investors with a multi-quarter horizon. Salesforce: Buy The Fear
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and other strategists continue to single out select software names as potential multi-baggers if sentiment stabilizes; these analyst views support the case that Salesforce could rebound with the sector. These 5 Software Stocks Could Double
• Neutral Sentiment: Barron’s flags heavy short interest across software and says a short-squeeze could spark a near-term rally — a technical/flow risk that can exacerbate moves in either direction depending on sentiment. Software Stocks Look Primed for a Short Squeeze
• Neutral Sentiment: JP Morgan/Reuters note the pullback offers buying opportunities for higher-quality software names if AI disruption fears prove overstated — an institutional view that could support calmer flows into CRM over time. AI disruption fears create buying chance
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational risk: >1,400 employees signed a letter urging CEO Marc Benioff to cut ties with ICE after a reported joke and internal backlash — negative PR that can increase investor uncertainty around governance and customer relationships. Salesforce employees call on CEO Benioff
• Negative Sentiment: Cost and execution signal: reports indicate Salesforce cut fewer than 1,000 roles in a recent round — while layoffs can improve margins, they also reflect management actions in response to slower demand and contribute to near-term investor caution. Salesforce cuts less than 1,000 jobs

Salesforce Stock Down 4.4%

CRM stock opened at $184.93 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $181.81 and a 52-week high of $330.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $240.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CRM. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 target price on the stock. One investment 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.57.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following 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. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.