90,219 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Acquired by Ancora Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Ancora Advisors acquired 90,219 Salesforce shares worth approximately $14.1 million in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of CRM’s outstanding stock, with BlackRock and State Street among the largest holders.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Salesforce carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $248.72. Investors are watching for reaccelerating growth and evidence that Agentforce AI is translating into stronger monetization.
• Salesforce shares opened at $205.74 after declining 1.6%; the company recently reported quarterly revenue of $11.13 billion and EPS of $3.88, exceeding analyst estimates. It also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, equivalent to a 0.9% annual yield.

Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 90,219 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,134,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $11,396,844,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after purchasing an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,751,073,000 after buying an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to see upside: Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a $225 price target, Citizens JMP maintained “market outperform” with a $315 target, and BTIG reiterated “buy” with a $255 target. These targets imply that the recent pullback has created potential valuation upside. Analyst rating updates
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce adoption and Salesforce’s expanding AI ecosystem are expected to support subscription growth. New integrations from ZoomInfo and Agiloft on the AgentExchange marketplace also suggest that third-party developers are increasingly using Salesforce and Slack AI workflows, strengthening the company’s platform moat. CRM Q2 earnings preview AgentExchange ecosystem
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies expects an in-line fiscal second quarter. Its survey of 20 Salesforce partners was moderately encouraging, with 70% reporting results at or above plan, but investors are likely to focus more heavily on management’s second-half growth outlook and Agentforce monetization. Jefferies Salesforce outlook
• Negative Sentiment: The earnings setup leaves little room for disappointment: Salesforce is expected to post roughly 10.6% revenue growth, while analysts want evidence that slower sales growth is reaccelerating. The stock is also testing technical resistance near $210, and broader caution toward technology shares may be limiting buying ahead of the report.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.6%

CRM stock opened at $205.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $168.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $176.11 and a 200-day moving average of $181.49.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $228.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Susquehanna began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Wedbush initiated coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $248.72.

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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