SCS Capital Management LLC Invests $1.15 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• SCS Capital Management initiated a Salesforce position worth approximately $1.15 million by purchasing 7,349 shares in the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of CRM’s outstanding stock.
• Salesforce reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, representing a 0.9% annualized yield.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Salesforce carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $249.05, though concerns remain about AI-native competitors threatening its CRM franchise.

SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,349 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,154,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Costello Asset Management INC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $250 price target, citing potential acceleration in Salesforce’s core business during the second half of the year. The target implies more than 24% upside from recent levels. JPMorgan bullish Salesforce coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Monness Crespi & Hardt raised its Salesforce price target to $222 from $200 and maintained a Buy rating. UBS and Wells Fargo also reportedly forecast strong appreciation, reinforcing improving sell-side sentiment. Monness Crespi Salesforce price target
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce platform is gaining traction, giving the company a way to use its large CRM customer base to compete with Microsoft and Oracle in enterprise “agentic” AI. Salesforce agentic AI analysis
• Positive Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha analysis argues that Salesforce’s $27.1 billion share-repurchase program, equivalent to an estimated 23% net buyback yield, could support earnings-per-share growth. The stock also appears inexpensive at roughly 14 times forward earnings, although buybacks have increased debt. Salesforce buyback analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has recently posted strong momentum, with reports noting three consecutive weeks of gains and substantial one-month appreciation. That run may be encouraging investors, but it also raises the possibility of profit-taking.
• Negative Sentiment: Parnassus Investments indicated that Salesforce has lost favor as AI opportunities shift toward competing or substitute technologies. Other commentary likewise warns that alternative software and AI-native tools threaten Salesforce’s traditional CRM franchise. Salesforce AI competition concerns

Salesforce Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of CRM opened at $195.86 on Monday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $171.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.95. The company has a market capitalization of $160.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued 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 of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $228.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, CLSA started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, July 20th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $249.05.

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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