Invst LLC Takes $828,000 Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Invst LLC acquired 5,287 Salesforce shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $828,000. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Salesforce holding a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $248.72, despite several recent downgrades to neutral or hold.
• Salesforce recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including $3.88 in EPS and $11.13 billion in revenue, while revenue grew 13.3% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, representing a 0.9% yield.

Invst LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,287 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $828,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,182,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after buying an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $927,332,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Susquehanna initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Wolfe Research lowered Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $248.72.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:CRM opened at $205.74 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $176.11 and a 200-day moving average of $181.49. The stock has a market cap of $168.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to see upside: Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a $225 price target, Citizens JMP maintained “market outperform” with a $315 target, and BTIG reiterated “buy” with a $255 target. These targets imply that the recent pullback has created potential valuation upside. Analyst rating updates
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce adoption and Salesforce’s expanding AI ecosystem are expected to support subscription growth. New integrations from ZoomInfo and Agiloft on the AgentExchange marketplace also suggest that third-party developers are increasingly using Salesforce and Slack AI workflows, strengthening the company’s platform moat. CRM Q2 earnings preview AgentExchange ecosystem
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies expects an in-line fiscal second quarter. Its survey of 20 Salesforce partners was moderately encouraging, with 70% reporting results at or above plan, but investors are likely to focus more heavily on management’s second-half growth outlook and Agentforce monetization. Jefferies Salesforce outlook
• Negative Sentiment: The earnings setup leaves little room for disappointment: Salesforce is expected to post roughly 10.6% revenue growth, while analysts want evidence that slower sales growth is reaccelerating. The stock is also testing technical resistance near $210, and broader caution toward technology shares may be limiting buying ahead of the report.

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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