Park National Corp OH Acquires 12,732 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Park National Corp OH increased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 155,850 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,732 shares during the quarter. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $29,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,028,807,000 after acquiring an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $151.67 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.80 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.16. 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’s fifty day moving average is $177.42 and its 200-day moving average is $204.35.

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

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

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?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Scotiabank cut shares of Salesforce from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.61.

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.