Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Purchases 13,579 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its Salesforce stake by 34.4% in the first quarter, buying 13,579 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 53,080 shares worth about $9.9 million.
• Institutional ownership of Salesforce remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors controlling 80.43% of the stock. Several firms, including J. Stern & Co., Norges Bank, and Capital World Investors, also increased or initiated large positions.
• Salesforce recently posted better-than-expected earnings, with quarterly EPS of $3.88 versus $3.13 expected and revenue of $11.13 billion, while analysts currently hold a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average target price of $257.61.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 34.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 53,080 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 13,579 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position 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 valued at $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased 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. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $257.61.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.6%

Salesforce stock opened at $152.45 on Thursday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $176.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $202.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $124.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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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