Clarkston Capital Partners LLC Takes $1.99 Million Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Clarkston Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,640 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,986,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position 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 buying an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.7%

NYSE CRM opened at $156.97 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $274.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $170.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $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. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.28 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.51.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Navatar announced a Claude-native deal engine built on Salesforce Agentforce, highlighting continued enterprise demand for Salesforce’s platform and AI tools. Navatar Launches Claude-Native Deal Engine for Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firms on Salesforce CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce received an “Equal Weight” rating from Morgan Stanley, reinforcing a cautious but not outright bearish stance from one major broker. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Montaka Global Investments described Salesforce as having a compelling outlook, suggesting some long-term investors still see value in the company’s AI and platform strategy. Key Catalysts Behind Salesforce’s (CRM) Compelling Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut Salesforce’s price target by 35% and downgraded the stock to Equal Weight, signaling reduced upside expectations. Morgan Stanley Slashes Salesforce Price Target By 35%
• Negative Sentiment: Another report said CRM’s recent downgrade reflects a “balanced” risk/reward profile, with analysts seeing no major growth inflection in the near term. CRM Stock Snags Second Rating Downgrade This Month
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce fell more than the broader market as the stock continued to trade under pressure from sentiment around software valuations and AI competition. Here’s Why Salesforce (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

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.