M&G PLC Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

M&G PLC lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 481.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 367,414 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 304,223 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $87,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,121 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.57.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated bullish positioning into the company’s FQ4 earnings, suggesting traders expect an upside surprise or are hedging for volatility. What the Options Market Tells Us About Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts are broadly constructive ahead of FQ4 2026, which supports short-term momentum and helps explain buying interest. Wall Street bullish on Salesforce (CRM) ahead of its FQ4 2026 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Several retail/investor pieces argue the recent pullback is a buying opportunity—some investors and commentators (including a Seeking Alpha author) are actively buying the “Salesforce crash,” which can amplify demand on dips. SaaSpocalypse: Why I’m Buying The Salesforce Crash
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bullish takes (e.g., 247WallStreet) list CRM as a top tech holding for a multi-year horizon, reinforcing buy-and-hold narratives for value/growth investors. What Is One of the Best Tech Stocks to Hold for the Next 10 Years?
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights CRM as a top-ranked value stock on style scores, which can attract value-oriented flows after the pullback. Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top-Ranked Value Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: New entrants are launching AI-native layers to run GTM workflows on top of any CRM—this is an emerging competitive/partner dynamic that could both pressure fees and spur integrations; impact is uncertain. Aurasell Launches World’s First AI-Native OS to Run Intelligent GTM Workflows on Any CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces and analyst-roundup articles are dissecting whether Wall Street optimism is priced in; these pieces mostly reiterate mixed views and won’t move the stock unless they include rating changes. Analysts stay constructive on Salesforce (CRM) despite sector weakness
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad analysis on AI-driven ETF weakness asks whether the panic is overblown; this macro debate will influence sector multiples but is not specific to CRM’s near-term operations. AI Disruption Hit Multiple Sector ETFs: Is the Fear Overblown?
• Negative Sentiment: Company-level cost and leadership changes tied to its AI push were reported alongside commentary that CRM returns are weak—workforce and leadership reshaping can signal execution risk and near-term disruption. Salesforce Reshapes Workforce And Leadership As AI Push Meets Weak CRM Returns
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage explaining why CRM has recently fallen notes sector-driven selling, multiple compression, and profit-taking—these are the same dynamics that can keep upside capped until catalysts arrive. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-level rout in software (ETF down sharply) driven by fears of AI replacing software workloads remains a headwind; broader sentiment could keep CRM under pressure even if fundamentals hold. 3 Historically Cheap Software Stocks Begging to Be Bought Amid the Recent Tech Rout

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $189.58 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $177.63 billion, a PE ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $180.24 and a fifty-two week high of $329.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $238.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $242.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its 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 net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The firm 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 earned $2.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio 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.