OP Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 121,374 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,657,000.

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

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $152.45 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $276.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.28. The stock has a market cap of $124.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays upgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group decreased their target price on Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.