Magellan Asset Management Ltd Sells 78,240 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 99.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 447 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 78,240 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in 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 bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank increased its stake in Salesforce by 658.8% during the 2nd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered their price target on Salesforce from $335.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.56.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding AI capabilities (Momentum acquisition, partnerships for identity and governance) that support its Agentforce/Slackbot roadmap — a tangible product push investors see as earnings- and growth-accretive. Salesforce AI Deals Test Investor Patience As Valuation Screens Attractive
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and previews expect a strong Q4 with margin tailwinds from cost cuts and AI-driven product leverage — upbeat previews are supporting bullish positioning into the print. Salesforce Q4 earnings on deck: What to expect
• Positive Sentiment: A broader software rally tied to an Anthropic-related announcement lifted AI-linked names, giving Salesforce sector-driven relief that helped push the stock up. US software stocks climb as Anthropic announcement sparks relief rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Options market pricing signals a sizable move is expected around Wednesday’s after‑hours Q4 report — raises short-term volatility risk but not a directional read. Here’s How Much Salesforce Stock Is Expected to Move After Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp trimmed its price target substantially (from $400 to $300) but left an overweight stance — a mixed signal that reduces upside expectations while still reflecting conviction in the business. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms have cut price targets and flagged earnings/valuation risk ahead of Q4, underscoring downside sensitivity if revenue growth disappoints or AI investments don’t convert quickly. Big Salesforce Price Target Cuts Ahead of Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Persistent critique around SaaS vulnerability to “agentic AI” and reminders of prior sharp corrections keep longer-term sentiment fragile — bulls point to AI integration, bears point to execution and valuation risks. What The Bulls Are Missing About Salesforce Stock

Salesforce Stock Up 4.2%

CRM stock opened at $185.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $173.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 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. The business’s 50-day moving average is $227.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.19. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $313.70.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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 $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.