USS Investment Management Ltd Grows Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd increased its Salesforce stake by 3.4% in the first quarter, buying 5,177 more shares and bringing its total holding to 156,301 shares worth about $29.2 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 beating estimates of $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion topping forecasts. Revenue also rose 13.3% year over year, and the company raised guidance for FY 2027 and Q2 2027.
• The company continues to return capital through a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share and a $25 billion share buyback authorization, while analysts maintain a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average target price of $255.14.

USS Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,301 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,177 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $29,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during 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 during the period. Mathes Company Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% in the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $657,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $156.99 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $276.80. The firm has a market cap of $128.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17, a PEG ratio of 0.98 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. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $255.14.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its FY2028 EPS estimate for Salesforce, signaling slightly better long-term earnings expectations versus the current consensus. MarketBeat Salesforce earnings update
• Positive Sentiment: Some coverage highlighted Salesforce as a potential pullback buy, noting analyst targets still imply meaningful upside from current levels. 5 Tech Stocks to Buy on the July Pullback
• Positive Sentiment: Investors continue to focus on Agentforce and Salesforce’s AI-driven, usage-based software strategy, which supports the long-term growth story after the latest quarter beat expectations and raised revenue guidance. Salesforce (CRM) Is Up 5.5% After Beating Q1 Targets And Raising Revenue Outlook - What's Changed

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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