IFM Investors Pty Ltd Raises Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 193,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,633 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $36,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $156.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $174.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $199.31. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $276.80. 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) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Key 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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $255.14.

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.