Dearborn Partners LLC Takes Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,110 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $767,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,182,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $844,928,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Bank of America began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $200.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.87.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $209.19 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $175.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.Salesforce’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Salesforce News Summary

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?

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.