American Century Companies Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,534,087 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 256,930 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.27% of Salesforce worth $600,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Country Trust Bank boosted its stake in Salesforce by 658.8% in the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 284.6% during the 2nd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 150 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Salesforce Stock Down 2.5%

NYSE CRM opened at $194.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $223.98 and its 200 day moving average is $238.32. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $174.57 and a 12 month high of $303.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.25%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.06.

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.