ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Acquires 6,550 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,495 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,550 shares during the quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rockland Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 98.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after buying an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co increased its holdings in Salesforce by 2.3% during the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Salesforce by 15.1% during the third 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. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in Salesforce by 42.2% during the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after acquiring an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha upgraded CRM to Buy, arguing Q4 could prove a catalyst (revenue acceleration, backlog expansion, clearer AI impacts). Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BTIG cut its price target (from $335 to $260) but maintained a Buy rating — a bullish vote despite the reduced conviction level. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple bullish analyst/coverage pieces highlight Agentforce and Salesforce’s founder-led durability as reasons CRM can defend/grow in an AI-driven market. Agentforce Article Founder-Led Article
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC issued a Hold and Wells Fargo moved to Equal Weight after trimming targets, signaling more cautious near-term expectations from big banks. RBC Hold Wells Fargo/Citigroup notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend/earnings-watch pieces and “buy-the-dip” technical calls argue CRM may be oversold and ripe for a reversal; these are supportive but speculative until Q4 results. Buy-the-dip Article
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually heavy put buying — investors purchased ~131,990 put options (? +84% vs. typical volume) — indicates elevated bearish hedging/speculation that can pressure the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and pessimistic forecasts (e.g., Mizuho; a separate trading note flagged a downgrade that pushed shares lower) are weighing on sentiment and liquidity. Mizuho Forecast Trading Down After Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Sector weakness tied to AI-driven re-ratings in software (examples: Palo Alto guidance reaction) and headlines labeling CRM among the Dow’s laggards add downward pressure. CNBC Sector Piece 247WallSt

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $185.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $173.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $232.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $240.59. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $180.24 and a one year high of $324.45.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue 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, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $235.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.89.

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.