Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Position Trimmed by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp trimmed its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 268,866 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 17,030 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $63,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.5% in the third quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 4,638 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter worth about $242,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 38,600 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,149,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 223,603 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $56,500,000 after buying an additional 17,713 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 75.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 84,500 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $20,026,000 after buying an additional 36,400 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New partner integrations with Salesforce expand go‑to‑market and reinforce AppExchange monetization (AcuityMD launched an AcuityMD app on the Salesforce AppExchange). AcuityMD for Salesforce Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Asymbl expanded collaboration aims to boost Salesforce’s AI workforce orchestration capabilities — incremental product wins that support long‑term AI positioning. Asymbl Collaboration
• Positive Sentiment: Some sell‑side support remains: BTIG kept a Buy rating despite lowering its target (shows split analyst views and pockets of conviction). BTIG Research Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target (from $265 to $235) and moved to Equal Weight — a downgrade in upside but not a bearish stance. Wells Fargo Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup trimmed its target sharply to $197 and set a Neutral rating — lowers analyst support and narrows upside from current levels. Citigroup Note
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC issued a Hold, reflecting more cautious near‑term sentiment from another major shop. RBC Hold
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS checks show an uptick in Agentforce but “muted” core growth — mixed operational signals ahead of earnings. UBS Checks
• Negative Sentiment: Mizuho issued a pessimistic forecast and lowered expectations, adding to the negative analyst momentum that’s pressuring the share price. Mizuho Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple downgrades and price‑target cuts triggered near‑term selling (reports note the stock trading down after an analyst downgrade). Analyst Downgrade / Trading Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI‑sized SaaS fears and sector volatility (the “SaaSpocalypse” narrative) continue to pressure enterprise software multiples and weigh on CRM sentiment. Sector AI Fears

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly 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. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.00.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:CRM opened at $187.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $180.24 and a 52 week high of $329.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $233.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $240.98. The company has a market capitalization of $176.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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 of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio 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.