AXQ Capital LP Makes New $826,000 Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,486 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $826,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 208.6% during the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 126 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $257.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Momentum, a conversational‑insights and revenue‑orchestration platform — the deal is expected to extend Agentforce 360 and Slackbot capabilities to ingest and analyze third‑party unstructured voice data, strengthening Salesforce’s AI/contact‑center stack and product monetization potential. Salesforce Inc (CRM) Expands AI Capabilities With Momentum Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/industry coverage highlights a large “agentic AI” opportunity for Salesforce — pieces argue Agentforce and other AI initiatives could be a multi‑year revenue tailwind if execution and GTM scale succeed. This supports a longer‑term growth narrative even as near‑term metrics are watched closely. Salesforce: Capitalizing On The Massive Agentic AI Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated interest and provides a read on short‑term sentiment — Benzinga’s options deep dive notes concentrated positioning that can amplify moves into earnings, making volatility around the print more likely. Traders should watch skew and open interest for signals. Salesforce Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Market Sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre‑earnings preview: Zacks notes AI/cloud demand could push Q4 revenue toward ~$11.2B and that prior cost cuts may boost EPS, but outcome hinges on product uptake and guidance for FY27 — results/guidance will likely drive the next leg of the move. Can AI and Cloud Strength Keep Salesforce’s Growth on Track in Q4?
• Negative Sentiment: Major broker price‑target cuts surfaced ahead of Q4 results, which has pressured sentiment — several firms trimmed targets, signaling lower near‑term expectations and increasing downside risk if guidance disappoints. Big Salesforce Price Target Cuts Ahead of Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage flags that Salesforce’s AI agent push plus related job cuts are reframing the investment story toward automation‑driven efficiency — investors may view workforce reductions and restructuring as a sign management is prioritizing margins, which can be read positively or negatively depending on growth outlook. Did Salesforce’s (CRM) AI Agent Push and Job Cuts Just Recast Its Automation-Driven Investment Narrative?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was flagged in a broader report on executives exiting positions — while not definitive, increased insider sales can add to short‑term negative sentiment ahead of earnings. Sell… Sell… Sell… Another Eight Companies Insiders Are Exiting

Salesforce Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $178.00 on Tuesday. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $229.16 and a 200 day moving average of $239.57. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $313.70. The stock has a market cap of $166.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.