Employees Provident Fund Board Buys Shares of 894,097 Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 894,097 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $236,855,000. Salesforce accounts for approximately 1.7% of Employees Provident Fund Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

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

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Salesforce to buy from neutral and set a $200 price target, signaling roughly 32% upside and citing valuation appeal plus AI-related gains. Monness upgrades Salesforce stock on valuation, AI gains; sees 31% upside
• Positive Sentiment: Truist reiterated confidence in Salesforce following its $3.6 billion acquisition of Fin, a move that could strengthen the company’s AI/customer-agent product lineup. Salesforce (CRM) Earns Vote of Confidence from Truist after $3.6 Billion Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles highlighted Salesforce as a long-term growth name and an AI beneficiary, with bullish coverage around its Agentforce strategy and generative AI positioning. Why Salesforce (CRM) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparison pieces versus Oracle and broad stock-picking articles suggest investors are weighing Salesforce’s slower recent performance against its AI growth narrative rather than reacting to a single new catalyst. Oracle vs. Salesforce: Which Tech Giant Is The Better Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: A recent commentary noted that Salesforce stock has fallen sharply this year, reflecting investor concern about execution, growth expectations, and the company’s discounted valuation versus past highs. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Plunges 41% This Year — A Buying Opportunity Emerges?

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $151.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $124.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $177.42 and its 200 day moving average is $204.35. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.80 and a twelve month 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. 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 prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CRM. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Scotiabank cut Salesforce from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.61.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.