CenterBook Partners LP Sells 32,448 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

CenterBook Partners LP decreased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 51.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,517 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 32,448 shares during the quarter. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 208.6% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 126 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bulls argue the pullback is overdone; several write-ups highlight Salesforce’s AI investments (Agentforce/Data Cloud), improving margins and institutional accumulation as reasons the stock can rebound. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial tie-ups expand AI/workforce use cases — Asymbl announced an expanded collaboration with Salesforce to advance workforce orchestration with AI, which supports enterprise adoption of Salesforce AI offerings. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish despite cuts — Mizuho trimmed its price target but kept an “Outperform” stance, signaling conviction that upside remains after the pullback. This can limit further downside if upgrades/targets stabilize. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company narrative: management pushing AI and big deals — Coverage noting Salesforce strengthening outlook with AI-led deals reinforces the view that fundamentals and deal flow are intact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector reset creates valuation opportunities — Industry pieces list Salesforce among software names that now look cheap, which may attract value-oriented buyers but also keeps the stock sensitive to macro/AI sentiment. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader sector dynamics: ServiceNow insider buying is a signal that managements may view current prices as attractive; it’s a mixed-but-important signal for the whole SaaS cohort (including CRM). That could stabilize sentiment but is an indirect influence. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term catalyst: weaker-than-expected revenue guidance and fears of slower enterprise spending have been cited as the primary trigger for recent selling pressure. Guidance/query risk remains the key downside catalyst ahead of reporting cycles. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: headlines and momentum selling (Zacks coverage of the decline) are amplifying the move lower; analyst target cuts and sector panic can sustain volatility until clearer guidance or results arrive. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price target on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $316.58.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $184.21 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $241.35. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $180.24 and a 52 week high of $329.74. The stock has a market cap of $172.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

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

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.