Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Has $3.15 Million Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lowered its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 47.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,268 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 12,215 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clark Financial Services Group Inc. BD increased its stake in Salesforce by 7.5% in the third quarter. Clark Financial Services Group Inc. BD now owns 1,395 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. National Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 123.4% during the third quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,676 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 12,996 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 135.7% in the 3rd quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 2,729 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Callahan Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 40,419 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,579,000 after buying an additional 7,325 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Won a major U.S. Army national-security IDIQ worth up to $5.6 billion over 10 years via its national-security unit Computable Insights / Missionforce National Security — a sizeable, multi-year revenue opportunity and credibility boost for Salesforce’s AI/data offerings in government. U.S. Army Awards Salesforce $5.6B Contract
• Positive Sentiment: Additional coverage and commentary highlight the same $5.6B win and frame it as a catalyst for investor interest and valuation support — analysts and outlets are re-evaluating Salesforce’s growth runway given this contract. Salesforce wins $5.6B US Army contract
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary and relative-stock comparisons are generally favorable: some analysts and writeups argue Salesforce is a stronger enterprise-software buy than Adobe today, citing AI (Agentforce) momentum and improving margins — supportive for sentiment and potential upgrades. CRM vs. ADBE: Which Enterprise Software Stock Is the Better Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays notes macro and IT spending remain stable — a steady-market backdrop that reduces downside risk from cyclical IT cuts but doesn’t necessarily accelerate growth. Barclays says macro and IT spending remain stable
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 139,574 restricted stock units to employees from recent acquisitions (Apromore, Spindle AI, Informatica) under its inducement plan — standard integration compensation; small potential dilution but routine for M&A hires. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore, Spindle AI, and Informatica Employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Heightened investor attention and analyst optimism pieces are circulating (Zacks, Finbold), which can boost trading volume and short-term interest but don’t by themselves change fundamentals. Is Salesforce.com (CRM) a Buy as Wall Street Analysts Look Optimistic?
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/market-warning signals have been flagged: some analysts note price-trend deterioration (“triple red”) despite solid operations, which can trigger short-term selling pressure from trend-followers. CRM Stock Is Flashing A Warning Signal
• Negative Sentiment: Some deep-dive coverage (Seeking Alpha) emphasizes a lower growth outlook vs. prior expectations, arguing valuation concerns remain despite claims of undervaluation — a narrative that can weigh on longer-term sentiment. Salesforce: Lower Growth Outlook But Extremely Undervalued

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:CRM opened at $228.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $214.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $247.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $248.23. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.96 and a 52-week high of $367.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate 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. 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 140,927 shares of company stock valued at $33,146,979 over the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.