63,093 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Purchased by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Key Points

• Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd disclosed a new first-quarter position in Salesforce, buying 63,093 shares worth about $11.8 million.
• Salesforce’s latest earnings beat expectations, with $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, while the company also lifted guidance and continues to have strong institutional ownership.
• Wall Street sentiment remains generally positive, with several firms raising or reiterating bullish ratings, though some analysts still warn that heavy recent stock declines and AI-related expectations may be outpacing near-term fundamentals.

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 63,093 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $11,778,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $181,143,000 after acquiring an additional 24,332 shares during the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel increased its position in Salesforce by 82.7% during the fourth quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,608,000 after purchasing an additional 7,871 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Salesforce by 8.9% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,299,513 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $307,984,000 after purchasing an additional 106,107 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP raised its stake in Salesforce by 5.6% during the third quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 830,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $196,837,000 after purchasing an additional 43,888 shares during the period. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $997,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim upgraded Salesforce to Buy and argued the stock’s recent weakness offers a better buying opportunity, helping fuel a rebound in CRM shares. Salesforce Will Face AI Disruption but Stock Still Gets an Upgrade to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Salesforce’s Data 360 momentum, AI-driven recurring revenue growth, and potential Informatica synergies as reasons fiscal 2027 revenue growth could improve. Can Salesforce's Data 360 Momentum Drive Stronger FY27 Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens reiterated a Market Outperform rating after Salesforce’s Fin acquisition and Agentforce expansion, reinforcing the bullish AI/productivity narrative. Citizens Reiterates Market Outperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM) Following Fin Acquisition and Agentforce Expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles noted that Salesforce remains a popular analyst consensus pick, with a “Moderate Buy” view broadly still in place. Salesforce Inc. NYSE: CRM Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the upgrade-driven bounce, Salesforce has still been hit by heavy recent selling, with coverage noting it fell more than 10% over the past month and lost over 25% in June, underscoring investor concern about the pace of growth. Salesforce (CRM) Down More Than 10% Over the Past Month, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary suggested AI expectations may be getting ahead of fundamentals, with analysts debating whether Salesforce’s valuation still fully reflects slower near-term growth. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Sees Modest Fair Value Cut As Analysts Debate AI Growth

Salesforce Stock Up 1.7%

Salesforce stock opened at $165.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.90 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $173.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.94.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $254.42.

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.

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