Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 260,710 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its Salesforce stake by 40.9%, buying 260,710 shares to hold 897,917 shares (its 19th-largest position), roughly 0.09% of Salesforce valued at about $212.8M.
• Analysts are largely constructive — MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $323.57 average price target, and several brokers flag Salesforce as a buy-on-the-dip amid AI integration tailwinds.
• Salesforce beat quarterly EPS estimates ($3.25 vs. $2.86) with revenue up 9.1%, but faces near-term risks from employee backlash and restructuring, alongside notable insider moves (a director bought 96,000 shares while an insider sold 134,662 shares).

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 40.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 897,917 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 260,710 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 0.8% of Public Sector Pension Investment Board's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.09% of Salesforce worth $212,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the second quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.9% in the second quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.4% in the second quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 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: Analysts remain constructive on CRM despite sector weakness; multiple broker notes and aggregate analyst bias continue to support a “moderate buy” view, giving upward support to the shares. Analysts stay constructive on Salesforce (CRM) despite sector weakness
• Positive Sentiment: Several market pieces argue AI fears are overblown and list Salesforce as a buy-on-the-dip candidate — framing the recent sell-off as sentiment-driven and highlighting CRM’s scale, recurring revenue, and AI integrations as recovery catalysts. AI Disruption Overblown! 4 Software Stocks to Buy on the Dip
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other value-screen articles flag CRM as attractive on valuation/score metrics, reinforcing the narrative that the pullback is creating a value entry point for longer-term investors. Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top-Ranked Value Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: New AI-focused startups are rolling out CRM-adjacent tools (Aurasell’s AI-native OS) that could alter go-to-market workflows — a potential long-term competitive variable but not an immediate earnings shock. Aurasell Launches World’s First AI-Native OS to Run Intelligent GTM Workflows on Any CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Inclusion on lists of software rebound candidates and mentions by large banks/analysts (e.g., Morgan Stanley lists) supports market attention; these are constructive but depend on broader sector sentiment stabilizing. These 5 Software Stocks Could Double in Price This Year, Says Morgan Stanley
• Negative Sentiment: Employee backlash after a reported joke about ICE and a petition demanding CEO Marc Benioff cut ties with ICE introduce reputational risk and internal distraction; over 1,400 employees signed a letter — this social governance issue is pressuring sentiment. Salesforce employees call on CEO Benioff to cancel ICE 'opportunities'
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce is reshaping workforce and leadership as its AI push meets weak CRM returns point to near-term execution and cost-pressure concerns that can weigh on guidance and margins. Salesforce Reshapes Workforce And Leadership As AI Push Meets Weak CRM Returns
• Negative Sentiment: Recent sell-offs and sector-wide AI fears have driven sharp volatility; short-interest and downdrafts in software peers amplify downside risk until earnings/outlook clarity returns. Here's Why Salesforce.com (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CRM. Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Mizuho set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Evercore dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $323.57.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $185.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $173.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company's 50 day moving average is $239.64 and its 200-day moving average is $243.20. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $180.24 and a 12-month high of $330.35.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. The trade was a 49.07% 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 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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