Stack Financial Management Inc Purchases New Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Stack Financial Management Inc acquired a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 221,154 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $52,413,000. Salesforce makes up 4.3% of Stack Financial Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of 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 valued at about $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $228.03 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $218.96 and a one year high of $360.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $213.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $247.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $248.09.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.51.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce secured a $5.6 billion, 10‑year IDIQ contract from the U.S. Army through its national security unit — a large, multi-year revenue opportunity that strengthens recurring backlog and expands government/defense TAM. Salesforce (CRM) wins $5.6 billion US Army technology contract
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlight additional long‑horizon AI deals (defense and wildfire applications), signaling a strategic pivot beyond core CRM into mission‑critical AI services that could lift margins and cross‑sell opportunities over time. Salesforce Deepens Defense and Wildfire AI Roles With Long-Horizon Deals
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive on CRM, citing AI momentum, Agentforce adoption and margin improvement as reasons to prefer Salesforce in the enterprise‑software space versus peers. Is Salesforce.com (CRM) a Buy as Wall Street Analysts Look Optimistic?
• Neutral Sentiment: High‑profile media mentions (Jim Cramer) keep the stock in focus; these can drive short‑term flows but don’t change fundamentals immediately. Jim Cramer Discusses Salesforce (CRM)
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted ~139,574 RSUs to employees acquired via Apromore, Spindle AI and Informatica hires — routine inducement grants that slightly increase share‑based compensation but are not unusually large. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore, Spindle AI, and Informatica Employees Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Negative Sentiment: Technical and sentiment signals are bearish: recent coverage notes the chart points to downside and the stock has shown sharp drawdowns over the past year, which can pressure short‑term performance despite positive news. Salesforce stock chart points to a dive despite the $5.6 billion Army deal
• Negative Sentiment: Price‑forecast pieces and monthly performance rundowns highlight recent volatility (noting double‑digit monthly swings and year‑over‑year declines), which keeps upside capped until clearer revenue/margin beats or multiple expansion occurs. Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM) Price Prediction and Forecast 2026–2030 (February 2026)

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 140,927 shares of company stock valued at $33,146,979 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.