Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 6,733 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,792 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 6,733 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $16,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about 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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. Arete Research raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.57.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $184.93 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $243.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $181.81 and a twelve month high of $330.35. The company has a market capitalization of $173.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

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.