Bank of Montreal Can Cuts Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its stake in Salesforce by 25.0%, selling 352,348 shares and leaving it with 1,059,031 shares valued at about $250.99 million (≈0.11% ownership).
• Salesforce beat Q results (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 expected; revenue $11.20B vs. $11.18B) and set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share.
• Market sentiment is mixed: institutional ownership remains high at 80.43% with several funds increasing positions, but short interest rose ~14.8% and some analysts trimmed price targets, leaving a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" (PT ~$282) as shares trade near $194.78.

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 25.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,059,031 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 352,348 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.11% of Salesforce worth $250,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockland Trust Co. lifted 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 valued at $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $44,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Salesforce by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $113,420,000 after acquiring an additional 61,270 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 42.2% during the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce expanded its Agentforce AI platform with new partnerships and sector moves (including a Formula 1 fan companion agent) that show progress commercializing AI across verticals. Salesforce Expands Agentforce With Formula 1 Partnership And Finance Shift
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Contact Center to integrate AI, voice and CRM — a product move that targets high-value contact-center spend and could accelerate revenue per customer if adoption scales. Salesforce Launches Agentforce Contact Center to Unify AI, Voice and CRM
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party ecosystem activity: Pimly launched a Product Intelligence solution on Salesforce’s AgentExchange, which could increase platform stickiness and extend use cases for front-office AI workflows. Pimly Product Intelligence Launch May Deepen Salesforce Platform Usage And Value
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive/market commentary: HubSpot (HUBS) reported strong subscription growth — a reminder of CRM competition that can influence investor sentiment around SaaS growth comps. HUBS Rides on Solid Subscriber Revenue Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Opinion pieces argue Salesforce is undervalued after recent weakness, framing current weakness as a buying opportunity if management executes on AI monetization. Salesforce: The SaaSpocalypse Created A Rare Buying Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Long-form analysis and sector context (e.g., Forbes piece on CRM’s path) highlight that sentiment about AI and guidance, not just fundamentals, is driving recent volatility. CRM Stock: Path To $260
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rose ~14.8% in February to ~21.9M shares (about 2.4% of shares), signaling increased bearish positioning that can amplify near-term downside pressure. (SEC/market short-interest report)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target trims: Northland cut its target to $229 (market-perform) and DA Davidson cut its target to $200 while keeping Neutral — fresh PT reductions that reinforce cautious near-term expectations. Northland Cuts Price Target DA Davidson Lowers PT on Salesforce

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Arete Research raised shares of Salesforce to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays cut their price target on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $282.06.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $194.78 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $214.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.09. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The stock has a market cap of $179.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.94, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.25%.

Salesforce Company 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.

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