Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA Invests $1.82 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 11,593 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,816,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC increased 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $209.19 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $175.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.44. The company has a market capitalization of $171.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 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 (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG Research reaffirmed its Buy rating and set a $255 price target, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. The bullish view reflects confidence in Salesforce’s AI opportunity and earnings outlook. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: One analyst argues Salesforce remains undervalued, citing its AI-enabled growth potential, modest valuation and significant share repurchases. The company’s reported $27.5 billion buyback has reduced shares outstanding and could provide support for earnings per share and the stock. Salesforce Forcing Itself Higher Through Massive Buybacks And AI-Led Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect AI cloud demand, acquisitions and disciplined spending to support second-quarter results, with revenue growth forecast at approximately 10.6%. Salesforce is also being discussed as a potential beneficiary of broader enterprise AI adoption. Salesforce Set to Report Q2 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has rallied toward the $210 area and is testing a resistance zone near its June high. A strong earnings reaction could determine whether the recent advance continues or stalls. Salesforce Stock Hits a Crucial Resistance Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: The main risk is that Salesforce’s earnings report fails to demonstrate a meaningful sales-growth reacceleration. Analysts and investors remain cautious about slower software growth, elevated AI expectations and the possibility that the broader AI trade could weaken. Salesforce Earnings Due: Will Sales Growth Reacceleration Hold Up?

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Truist Financial lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.87.

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.