Apollon Wealth Management LLC Purchases 20,324 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Apollon Wealth Management increased its Salesforce stake by 70.7% in the first quarter, buying 20,324 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 49,073 shares worth about $9.16 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive: Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus price target of $255.14, though Scotiabank recently downgraded the stock to sector perform.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 versus $3.13 expected and revenue of $11.13 billion, while also maintaining a $25 billion share buyback program and a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 70.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,073 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 20,324 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CRM. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $835,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank downgraded Salesforce from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $255.14.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $158.12 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $276.80. The stock has a market cap of $129.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $175.09 and a 200-day moving average of $200.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 20.37%.

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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