Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 38.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,533 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 49,250 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded it a $1.6 billion, three-year agreement to help modernize veteran care and services through its Missionforce platform, a major enterprise and government win that could support future revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted Salesforce as part of a broader rally in enterprise software tied to government AI deals, suggesting investors are rewarding the company’s AI-driven growth story and large-addressable-market opportunity. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also announced equity awards for new employees joining from the acquisitions of Qualified and MeshMesh, reinforcing that the company is still using M&A and talent integration to expand its product capabilities. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several pieces discussed Salesforce’s longer-term outlook and AI platform strategy, including third-party takes on catalysts and new apps built on Salesforce, which support the stock’s narrative but are less immediate drivers than the VA deal. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One article flagged a “critical security test” for Salesforce, which could raise investor concerns about execution and platform trust, though it is not as immediate as the contract news. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce was also mentioned in a piece about the company falling more than the broader market the prior day, reflecting that the stock has still been under pressure despite the recent upbeat headlines. Article Title

Salesforce Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $163.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $170.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.79. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $274.00. The company has a market capitalization of $134.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a PEG 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share 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 of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.51.

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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