Merit Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 17.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,595 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 5,918 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC increased 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Country Trust Bank raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 284.6% during the 2nd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 150 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MSN reports Salesforce has strengthened its outlook by leaning into AI and closing large deals that underscore enterprise demand for its AI-native CRM stack. This reinforces management’s narrative that AI is a growth driver, not just a risk. Salesforce Inc (CRM) strengthens outlook with AI and big deals
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat argues analysts view the sell-off as overdone and highlight upside (15%–70% range across targets). Institutional accumulation and re-inclusion in AI-focused ETFs are cited as technical/supportive factors that could sustain a rebound. Why Analysts Still See Big Upside in Salesforce After the SaaS Scare
• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha emphasizes the “SaaS apocalypse” narrative is overblown and highlights Agentforce adoption (reported ~$550M ARR, ~18k customers) as proof Salesforce can monetize AI and deepen multi-cloud deals. That bolsters the thesis that AI augments subscription revenue rather than destroys it. Salesforce Isn’t Going Anywhere. The SaaS Apocalypse Is Overdone
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks profiles Salesforce as a strong growth stock under several style-score frameworks, supporting the buy case for growth/momentum investors. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Strong Growth Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Partner/market validation: recent press releases from CRMIT and KPIT launching AI/industry solutions on Salesforce’s platform show ecosystem adoption and drive higher ARPU potential for customers embedding Salesforce AI. CRMIT Solutions Launches Case InsAIghts on Salesforce AgentExchange KPIT launches VRM on Salesforce
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat’s roundup of “5 software stocks” frames the sector sell-off as a valuation reset: Salesforce’s multiple looks cheaper, but the piece also reminds investors the sector remains volatile as AI adoption and monetization timing are uncertain. 5 Software Stocks That Look Too Cheap to Ignore (CRM)
• Neutral Sentiment: Yahoo and other outlets flag Feb. 25 as an important date (Q4 fiscal 2026 results/guidance) — a potential catalyst that could either validate the bullish narrative (AI-driven acceleration) or re-test the sell-off thesis. Dear Salesforce Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for February 25
• Neutral Sentiment: MSN and other post-earnings commentary debate buy/hold/sell following Q3 results — consensus is mixed but leans toward buy-on-dip if guidance and Agentforce uptake show clear traction. Salesforce (CRM): Buy, sell, or hold post Q3 earnings?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $189.58 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $236.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $180.24 and a fifty-two week high of $329.74.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.