1,819,228 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Bought by Generation Investment Management LLP

Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,819,228 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $431,157,000. Salesforce accounts for 2.9% of Generation Investment Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Generation Investment Management LLP owned about 0.19% of Salesforce at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quaker Wealth Management LLC increased 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 period. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in 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 period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Bank of America lowered 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Salesforce from $257.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their target price on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Momentum, a conversational‑insights and revenue‑orchestration platform — the deal is expected to extend Agentforce 360 and Slackbot capabilities to ingest and analyze third‑party unstructured voice data, strengthening Salesforce’s AI/contact‑center stack and product monetization potential. Salesforce Inc (CRM) Expands AI Capabilities With Momentum Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/industry coverage highlights a large “agentic AI” opportunity for Salesforce — pieces argue Agentforce and other AI initiatives could be a multi‑year revenue tailwind if execution and GTM scale succeed. This supports a longer‑term growth narrative even as near‑term metrics are watched closely. Salesforce: Capitalizing On The Massive Agentic AI Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated interest and provides a read on short‑term sentiment — Benzinga’s options deep dive notes concentrated positioning that can amplify moves into earnings, making volatility around the print more likely. Traders should watch skew and open interest for signals. Salesforce Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Market Sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre‑earnings preview: Zacks notes AI/cloud demand could push Q4 revenue toward ~$11.2B and that prior cost cuts may boost EPS, but outcome hinges on product uptake and guidance for FY27 — results/guidance will likely drive the next leg of the move. Can AI and Cloud Strength Keep Salesforce’s Growth on Track in Q4?
• Negative Sentiment: Major broker price‑target cuts surfaced ahead of Q4 results, which has pressured sentiment — several firms trimmed targets, signaling lower near‑term expectations and increasing downside risk if guidance disappoints. Big Salesforce Price Target Cuts Ahead of Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage flags that Salesforce’s AI agent push plus related job cuts are reframing the investment story toward automation‑driven efficiency — investors may view workforce reductions and restructuring as a sign management is prioritizing margins, which can be read positively or negatively depending on growth outlook. Did Salesforce’s (CRM) AI Agent Push and Job Cuts Just Recast Its Automation-Driven Investment Narrative?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was flagged in a broader report on executives exiting positions — while not definitive, increased insider sales can add to short‑term negative sentiment ahead of earnings. Sell… Sell… Sell… Another Eight Companies Insiders Are Exiting

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $178.00 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $313.70. The company has a market cap of $166.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $229.16 and a 200-day moving average of $239.57. 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 (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 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

About Salesforce

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.