SFE Investment Counsel Makes New Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• SFE Investment Counsel acquired 13,353 Salesforce shares worth approximately $2.09 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported quarterly revenue of $11.13 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.88, exceeding analyst estimates, while revenue increased 13.3% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Salesforce receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $249.05 versus a recent share price near $195.86, though competition in AI and alternative software remains a concern.

SFE Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 13,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,092,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $195.86 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $171.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce'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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $249.05.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

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

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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