New York State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 840,107 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 4,812 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $199,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $161,000. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,320 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp raised its stake in Salesforce by 97.8% in the 3rd quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 179,635 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $42,573,000 after acquiring an additional 88,832 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cannon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,019 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in Salesforce by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,541 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total transaction of $580,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,567,632.20. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 155,034 shares of company stock worth $36,726,584. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting 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 Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $260.03 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.96 and a fifty-two week high of $367.09. The company has a market cap of $243.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.54.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 company earned $2.41 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.16%.

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.