Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by ARK Investment Management LLC

ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 76,013 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,987 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $18,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,239,144 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,004,896,000 after purchasing an additional 155,024 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,803,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. NZS Capital LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 25.8% in the third quarter. NZS Capital LLC now owns 80,846 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $19,161,000 after buying an additional 16,593 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in Salesforce by 2.5% in the third quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 8,128 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,926,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 14.8% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,690,824 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $874,725,000 after acquiring an additional 475,495 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is using its Formula 1 partnership to showcase Agentforce (AI agents) and illustrate how large-brand marketing can accelerate adoption and commercial awareness for its AI offerings. This supports Salesforce’s narrative of shifting from seat‑based software to “digital labor” revenue potential. Salesforce Uses Formula 1 Deal To Showcase Agentforce AI Growth Potential
• Positive Sentiment: Company messaging and product launches (Agentforce for Communications, new partnerships such as Asymbl and GoDaddy integrating MuleSoft) reinforce a strategic pivot to AI agents and higher‑value workflows — a growth narrative that can support longer‑term revenue re‑rating if adoption scales. Salesforce Recasts Growth Story Around AI Agents And Capital Returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and market commentary is revisiting CRM’s valuation after recent share weakness; pieces outline arguments both for continued undervaluation and for cautious outlooks depending on AI conversion speed and margin mix. This drives trading volatility but not a clear directional signal. A Look At Salesforce (CRM) Valuation After Recent Share Price Weakness And Undervaluation Debate
• Neutral Sentiment: Management’s Morgan Stanley TMT conference presentation (transcript) reiterates strategy, product roadmap and capital‑return priorities — useful for modelers but no new guidance that materially changes near‑term estimates. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage noting CRM as a “trending” stock and other media explainers (Zacks, TheStreet) increase attention but present mixed analyst actions and viewpoints — attention can lift liquidity but also amplify sell‑side target changes. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) is a Trending Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Partner ecosystem activity: Faye’s acquisition of CRM Science (a Salesforce partner) underscores ecosystem consolidation and reseller dynamics — generally supportive of services demand but not directly material to revenue guidance. Faye Acquires CRM Science, Award Winning Salesforce Partner
• Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler trimmed its price target to $250 (from $280) despite maintaining an Overweight rating — analyst downgrades or target cuts increase near‑term downside risk by lowering benchmarks investors use to value CRM. Piper Sandler Cuts Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Price Target to $250 from $280
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage highlighting startups and AI tools building bespoke CRMs signals a competitive threat: AI‑native vendors could displace legacy vendors in some segments faster than expected, pressuring growth and pricing power. Meet the Companies Vibe Coding Their Own CRMs

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.14.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5%

Salesforce stock opened at $193.15 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $298.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $219.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.46.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.25%.

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.