Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 64.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,111 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,777 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Salesforce by 2.4% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,207,190 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $523,104,000 after buying an additional 51,492 shares in the last quarter. Harvey Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 17.7% during the third quarter. Harvey Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,731,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.0% during the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 87,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $199.30 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.28 and a 1 year high of $348.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $245.13 and its 200 day moving average is $246.24. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.41 earnings per share. 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce won a large U.S. Army cloud deal (reported value ~$5.6B), a direct revenue and backlog catalyst that supports long-term enterprise demand for CRM’s cloud services. Salesforce (CRM) Wins $5.6 Billion Army Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI adoption narrative: analysts and commentators highlight rising enterprise AI use of Salesforce tools — investors view current revenue lag as an opportunity for future upside. Salesforce: AI Adoption Is Surging
• Positive Sentiment: Technical/flow factors: analysts note the stock has been oversold after a steep sell-off and that exhausted selling could trigger a short-term rebound — a likely reason for today’s intraday strength. After Plunging 17.7% in 4 Weeks, Here’s Why the Trend Might Reverse
• Neutral Sentiment: Company scheduled Q4 & full-year fiscal 2026 results on Feb. 25 (after market), which will be a near-term volatility event and likely driver of positioning between now and the print. Salesforce Announces Timing of its Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2026 Results Conference Call
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage is active — services compiling 25 experts’ views and debate over fair value/undervaluation, so investor sentiment remains mixed and will hinge on upcoming guidance. The Analyst Verdict: Salesforce In The Eyes Of 25 Experts
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile commentators (Jim Cramer) continue to discuss the stock’s fundamentals and long-term ownership, keeping retail attention elevated but not unambiguously bullish. Jim Cramer highlights that the charitable trust has owned Salesforce for “years and years”
• Negative Sentiment: Broader software-sector AI fears are weighing on the group — new competitive features from AI rivals are stoking concerns about disruption and have pressured cloud/software names. This sector headwind is a key reason for recent weakness. Software experiencing ‘most exciting moment’ as AI fears hammer the stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Short-term valuation and sentiment concerns: coverage pieces warn CRM may be a “value trap” after a 42% year decline and a recent 52-week low, keeping some investors cautious. Is CRM Stock A Value Play Or A Value Trap?

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Citigroup downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.57.

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.