Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Has $2.36 Billion Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital sharply increased its Salesforce stake by 130.2% in Q1, buying more than 7.16 million additional shares and bringing its position to about $2.36 billion.
• Salesforce’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $3.88 versus $3.13 expected and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• Sentiment is mixed: while some investors and analysts remain constructive, recent broker actions included price-target cuts and downgrades, and the stock has been trading below its moving averages.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 130.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up 1.3% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 1.55% of Salesforce worth $2,363,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its stake 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 buying an additional 24,332 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 82.7% in the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,608,000 after buying an additional 7,871 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $1,004,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $997,000. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $142,521,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $156.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $128.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $170.28 and a 200-day moving average of $187.96. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $274.00.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Navatar announced a Claude-native deal engine built on Salesforce Agentforce, highlighting continued enterprise demand for Salesforce’s platform and AI tools. Navatar Launches Claude-Native Deal Engine for Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firms on Salesforce CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce received an “Equal Weight” rating from Morgan Stanley, reinforcing a cautious but not outright bearish stance from one major broker. Salesforce NYSE: CRM Earns "Equal Weight" Rating from Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Montaka Global Investments described Salesforce as having a compelling outlook, suggesting some long-term investors still see value in the company’s AI and platform strategy. Key Catalysts Behind Salesforce’s (CRM) Compelling Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut Salesforce’s price target by 35% and downgraded the stock to Equal Weight, signaling reduced upside expectations. Morgan Stanley Slashes Salesforce Price Target By 35%
• Negative Sentiment: Another report said CRM’s recent downgrade reflects a “balanced” risk/reward profile, with analysts seeing no major growth inflection in the near term. CRM Stock Snags Second Rating Downgrade This Month
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce fell more than the broader market as the stock continued to trade under pressure from sentiment around software valuations and AI competition. Here's Why Salesforce (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Barclays raised shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Company 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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