German American Bancorp Inc. Invests $1.39 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• German American Bancorp initiated a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter, buying 7,455 shares worth about $1.39 million.
• Institutional ownership in Salesforce remains very high, with major funds like Vanguard and State Street continuing to add to their stakes; institutions and hedge funds now hold 80.43% of the stock.
• Analysts are generally constructive on Salesforce, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.42, while the company also recently beat earnings and revenue expectations for the quarter.

German American Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,392,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. KeyCorp lowered shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $254.42.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $171.20 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $274.00. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $170.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.20. 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 stock has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm 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%. Salesforce's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. 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 expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

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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