Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 12,215 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS cut its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,268 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 12,215 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,823,481 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $24,221,275,000 after purchasing an additional 909,853 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,452,998,000 after buying an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,669,224,000 after acquiring an additional 114,504 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $2,826,049,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Salesforce by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,087,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612,413 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.51.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Won a major U.S. Army national-security IDIQ worth up to $5.6 billion over 10 years via its national-security unit Computable Insights / Missionforce National Security — a sizeable, multi-year revenue opportunity and credibility boost for Salesforce’s AI/data offerings in government. U.S. Army Awards Salesforce $5.6B Contract
• Positive Sentiment: Additional coverage and commentary highlight the same $5.6B win and frame it as a catalyst for investor interest and valuation support — analysts and outlets are re-evaluating Salesforce’s growth runway given this contract. Salesforce wins $5.6B US Army contract
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and relative-stock comparisons are generally favorable: some analysts and writeups argue Salesforce is a stronger enterprise-software buy than Adobe today, citing AI (Agentforce) momentum and improving margins — supportive for sentiment and potential upgrades. CRM vs. ADBE: Which Enterprise Software Stock Is the Better Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays notes macro and IT spending remain stable — a steady-market backdrop that reduces downside risk from cyclical IT cuts but doesn’t necessarily accelerate growth. Barclays says macro and IT spending remain stable
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 139,574 restricted stock units to employees from recent acquisitions (Apromore, Spindle AI, Informatica) under its inducement plan — standard integration compensation; small potential dilution but routine for M&A hires. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore, Spindle AI, and Informatica Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Heightened investor attention and analyst optimism pieces are circulating (Zacks, Finbold), which can boost trading volume and short-term interest but don’t by themselves change fundamentals. Is Salesforce.com (CRM) a Buy as Wall Street Analysts Look Optimistic?
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/market-warning signals have been flagged: some analysts note price-trend deterioration (“triple red”) despite solid operations, which can trigger short-term selling pressure from trend-followers. CRM Stock Is Flashing A Warning Signal
• Negative Sentiment: Some deep-dive coverage (Seeking Alpha) emphasizes a lower growth outlook vs. prior expectations, arguing valuation concerns remain despite claims of undervaluation — a narrative that can weigh on longer-term sentiment. Salesforce: Lower Growth Outlook But Extremely Undervalued

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $228.58 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $247.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.23. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $218.96 and a one year high of $367.09. The stock has a market cap of $214.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.26. 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 issued its 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 net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce’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, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 140,927 shares of company stock worth $33,146,979 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.