M&G PLC Acquires 304,223 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

M&G PLC increased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 481.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 367,414 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 304,223 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $87,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 208.6% in the 2nd 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 period. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on CRM. Citigroup lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $189.58 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $180.24 and a one year high of $329.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $238.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.31. The company has a market capitalization of $177.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 1.29 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated bullish positioning into the company’s FQ4 earnings, suggesting traders expect an upside surprise or are hedging for volatility. What the Options Market Tells Us About Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts are broadly constructive ahead of FQ4 2026, which supports short-term momentum and helps explain buying interest. Wall Street bullish on Salesforce (CRM) ahead of its FQ4 2026 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Several retail/investor pieces argue the recent pullback is a buying opportunity—some investors and commentators (including a Seeking Alpha author) are actively buying the “Salesforce crash,” which can amplify demand on dips. SaaSpocalypse: Why I’m Buying The Salesforce Crash
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bullish takes (e.g., 247WallStreet) list CRM as a top tech holding for a multi-year horizon, reinforcing buy-and-hold narratives for value/growth investors. What Is One of the Best Tech Stocks to Hold for the Next 10 Years?
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights CRM as a top-ranked value stock on style scores, which can attract value-oriented flows after the pullback. Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top-Ranked Value Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: New entrants are launching AI-native layers to run GTM workflows on top of any CRM—this is an emerging competitive/partner dynamic that could both pressure fees and spur integrations; impact is uncertain. Aurasell Launches World’s First AI-Native OS to Run Intelligent GTM Workflows on Any CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces and analyst-roundup articles are dissecting whether Wall Street optimism is priced in; these pieces mostly reiterate mixed views and won’t move the stock unless they include rating changes. Analysts stay constructive on Salesforce (CRM) despite sector weakness
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad analysis on AI-driven ETF weakness asks whether the panic is overblown; this macro debate will influence sector multiples but is not specific to CRM’s near-term operations. AI Disruption Hit Multiple Sector ETFs: Is the Fear Overblown?
• Negative Sentiment: Company-level cost and leadership changes tied to its AI push were reported alongside commentary that CRM returns are weak—workforce and leadership reshaping can signal execution risk and near-term disruption. Salesforce Reshapes Workforce And Leadership As AI Push Meets Weak CRM Returns
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage explaining why CRM has recently fallen notes sector-driven selling, multiple compression, and profit-taking—these are the same dynamics that can keep upside capped until catalysts arrive. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-level rout in software (ETF down sharply) driven by fears of AI replacing software workloads remains a headwind; broader sentiment could keep CRM under pressure even if fundamentals hold. 3 Historically Cheap Software Stocks Begging to Be Bought Amid the Recent Tech Rout

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.