Central Bank & Trust Co. Has $1.05 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Central Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,437 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,029 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Painted Porch Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 260.0% during the 2nd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 314.8% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Salesforce by 383.3% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total value of $31,598.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,085,096,889. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 173,034 shares of company stock valued at $41,097,367. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.68.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $259.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.84. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.96 and a 1-year high of $367.09. The firm has a market cap of $243.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.25.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. The business’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. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.16%.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares (22% increase to his stake), signaling insider confidence in the company’s outlook; insider purchases often reassure investors about management’s view of valuation and prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan argues the market is underestimating Salesforce’s AI opportunity — calling CRM “priced like a value stock” while AI-driven monetization ramps, which supports the thesis for re-rating if AI revenue acceleration materializes. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire AI marketing firm Qualified, expanding its agentic/AI marketing stack and potentially creating cross-sell and product monetization opportunities within Marketing Cloud and Agentforce. Strategic tuck-ins can accelerate ARR and AI feature adoption. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: BTIG initiated coverage with a Buy and $335 target (roughly ~29% upside from current levels), adding upward analyst momentum and providing buy-side validation for CRM’s AI-led rebound thesis. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce remains a focus on market watchlists (Zacks note) and broader software sector recaps benchmark CRM performance; attention can boost liquidity but doesn’t change fundamentals immediately. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat/others note Salesforce’s recent EPS beat and guidance pointing to 2026 acceleration; that underpins the bullish narrative but is already partly reflected in sentiment and analyst revisions. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reduced its price target on CRM, a reminder that some sell-side desks remain cautious on near-term multiples and execution risk — this can temper rallies and add upside resistance until proofs of AI monetization appear. Read More.

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.