Encore Global Management LP Purchases New Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Encore Global Management LP purchased a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 21,620 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,036,000. Salesforce accounts for approximately 2.8% of Encore Global Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,639,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,236 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 745 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A three-year U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs agreement with a potential value of $1.6 billion is strengthening Salesforce’s government-cloud narrative. The contract expands use of Missionforce, Agentforce, Slack, MuleSoft, Tableau and Data 360 across the VA’s nationwide network, highlighting demand for Salesforce’s AI agents and unified data platform. Will Salesforce’s (CRM) US$1.6 Billion VA AI Deal Redefine Its Government-Cloud Narrative?
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce was among the enterprise-software leaders in a broad rebound, with investors rotating toward companies positioned to benefit from AI adoption. The sector rally helped lift sentiment after a period of heavy selling. Salesforce Surges 7%, ServiceNow Jumps 8%, Workday Jumps 10% as Software Rebounds on AI Rotation
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary on Salesforce’s earnings move points to continued investor interest following its latest quarterly results, when the company exceeded consensus expectations for both earnings and revenue. The beat supports the view that cost discipline and AI-related products can drive growth. Why Did Salesforce Lead Index Gainers After Its Earnings Move?
• Neutral Sentiment: Night View Capital describes AI as a transformative, economy-wide technology and cites Salesforce as an important platform for corporate AI deployment. The discussion is supportive of the long-term thesis but does not represent a new contract or change to financial guidance. Salesforce’s Impact on AI Deployment in Corporate Environments
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” view, while investors weigh Salesforce against other beaten-down Dow companies as a potential dip-buying opportunity. Salesforce Receives Consensus Rating of Moderate Buy
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the rebound, Salesforce remains well below its 52-week high, reflecting lingering concerns about software-sector valuations, competition and the pace at which AI investments translate into recurring revenue. Disney or Salesforce: Which Beaten-Down Dow Giant Is the Smarter Dip-Buy?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $181.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.18. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $274.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $170.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.08.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Salesforce 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.