R Squared Ltd Decreases Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

R Squared Ltd trimmed its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 69.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,003 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 4,471 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Country Trust Bank boosted its stake in Salesforce by 658.8% during the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 284.6% during the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 150 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $194.47 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $303.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $223.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.32.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. 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, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.06.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Salesforce Company 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.