Encore Global Management LP Acquires New Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Encore Global Management LP acquired a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 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 investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 410.3% in the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, June 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $181.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.08. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $274.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $148.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. 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, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

Key Salesforce News

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?

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.