Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 5,918 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Merit Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 17.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,595 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 5,918 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Salesforce Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $189.58 on Tuesday. 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 market cap of $177.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.27. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $180.24 and a 12 month high of $329.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $236.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $241.82.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid 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 22.16%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MSN reports Salesforce has strengthened its outlook by leaning into AI and closing large deals that underscore enterprise demand for its AI-native CRM stack. This reinforces management’s narrative that AI is a growth driver, not just a risk. Salesforce Inc (CRM) strengthens outlook with AI and big deals
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat argues analysts view the sell-off as overdone and highlight upside (15%–70% range across targets). Institutional accumulation and re-inclusion in AI-focused ETFs are cited as technical/supportive factors that could sustain a rebound. Why Analysts Still See Big Upside in Salesforce After the SaaS Scare
• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha emphasizes the “SaaS apocalypse” narrative is overblown and highlights Agentforce adoption (reported ~$550M ARR, ~18k customers) as proof Salesforce can monetize AI and deepen multi-cloud deals. That bolsters the thesis that AI augments subscription revenue rather than destroys it. Salesforce Isn’t Going Anywhere. The SaaS Apocalypse Is Overdone
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks profiles Salesforce as a strong growth stock under several style-score frameworks, supporting the buy case for growth/momentum investors. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Strong Growth Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Partner/market validation: recent press releases from CRMIT and KPIT launching AI/industry solutions on Salesforce’s platform show ecosystem adoption and drive higher ARPU potential for customers embedding Salesforce AI. CRMIT Solutions Launches Case InsAIghts on Salesforce AgentExchange KPIT launches VRM on Salesforce
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat’s roundup of “5 software stocks” frames the sector sell-off as a valuation reset: Salesforce’s multiple looks cheaper, but the piece also reminds investors the sector remains volatile as AI adoption and monetization timing are uncertain. 5 Software Stocks That Look Too Cheap to Ignore (CRM)
• Neutral Sentiment: Yahoo and other outlets flag Feb. 25 as an important date (Q4 fiscal 2026 results/guidance) — a potential catalyst that could either validate the bullish narrative (AI-driven acceleration) or re-test the sell-off thesis. Dear Salesforce Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for February 25
• Neutral Sentiment: MSN and other post-earnings commentary debate buy/hold/sell following Q3 results — consensus is mixed but leans toward buy-on-dip if guidance and Agentforce uptake show clear traction. Salesforce (CRM): Buy, sell, or hold post Q3 earnings?

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Citigroup cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.57.

Salesforce 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.