Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Increases Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its Salesforce stake by 65% in Q1, buying 38,283 additional shares and bringing its total to 97,191 shares valued at about $18.0 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 80.43% of Salesforce’s stock, while several other funds also made modest increases in their positions.
• Analysts are broadly positive on CRM, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $254.42 average price target; Salesforce also recently beat earnings and revenue estimates in its latest quarterly report.

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 65.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,191 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,283 shares during the quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $17,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,123,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRM. KeyCorp cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Salesforce from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $254.42.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of CRM opened at $171.20 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $274.00. The stock has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's fifty day moving average is $170.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 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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