Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Reduces Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lowered its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 32.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,775 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 27,864 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,693,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 27,361.5% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1,729.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $538,020,000 after buying an additional 1,865,297 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Salesforce by 26.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,087,545,000 after buying an additional 1,612,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Salesforce by 45.8% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,931,945 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,072,202,000 after buying an additional 1,234,969 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.74.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.2%

CRM opened at $260.03 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $250.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.43. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.96 and a 12 month high of $367.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.41 EPS. The business’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. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total value of $580,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,075,567,632.20. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value 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. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 152,784 shares of company stock worth $36,173,287. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat highlighted five reasons to buy-and-hold CRM for 2026, arguing Salesforce has an attractive AI/cloud runway that could make it a top trade this year. MarketBeat: Five reasons to buy-and-hold CRM
• Positive Sentiment: The Motley Fool and 247WallStreet pieces both profile Salesforce as underappreciated on AI upside — suggesting the market hasn’t fully priced in its “agentic AI” roadmap or potential enterprise expansion. These narratives support a longer-term bullish case. Fool: Should you forget Palantir and buy these 2 tech stocks? 247WallSt: 2 Stocks That Don’t Have Enough AI Priced In
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst consensus remains constructive — AmericanBankingNews reports an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy.” That supports investor confidence despite recent weakness. Salesforce receives average recommendation of “Moderate Buy”
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer has Salesforce on his radar, drawing attention to the company amid sector turmoil; coverage like this can add visibility but is not a direct catalyst. Jim Cramer Discusses Salesforce (CRM)’s Business
• Neutral Sentiment: The Globe and Mail highlighted a Zacks feature that mentions Salesforce alongside Adobe as notable ideas — more media/analyst attention that reinforces the stock’s profile. Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Adobe and Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Yahoo Finance flags that Salesforce’s AI revenue base is still small and that rising API costs could pressure margins — that raises the risk that the company’s margin story may be weaker than investors expect. Did Salesforce’s Small AI Revenue Base and Higher API Costs Just Recast Its Margin Story?
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks and other outlets emphasize CRM’s ~18–20% drop over the past year — headline pieces questioning whether the stock is still a hold add selling pressure and keep sentiment cautious. Salesforce Plunges 20% in a Year
• Negative Sentiment: Short news blurbs (MSN/headlines) noting that CRM is sinking while broader markets gain amplify the perception of underperformance versus peers. Salesforce.com (CRM) stock sinks as market gains

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.