7,676 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Bought by Rakuten Securities Inc.

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,676 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,203,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $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 purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $844,928,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Truist Financial downgraded Salesforce from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.87.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $209.20 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $174.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.56. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $171.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business'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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Favorable earnings setup: Oppenheimer and other analysts see potential upside from Salesforce’s upcoming results, while market expectations point to a possible post-earnings move toward the stock’s highest level since January. Salesforce Faces Favorable Second-Quarter Setup With Upside Potential How Much Salesforce Stock Is Expected to Move After Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Guggenheim reaffirmed a Buy rating with a $228 price target, while Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an Overweight rating and set a $250 target. The calls reflect confidence that Salesforce can capture demand for next-generation AI-powered, “agentic” enterprise workflows. Cantor Fitzgerald Salesforce Analyst Comment
• Positive Sentiment: Growth and capital returns: Zacks characterizes Salesforce as a strong growth stock, while a report highlights a record $27 billion quarterly share repurchase program. Buybacks could support earnings per share and signal that management views the shares as undervalued. Why Salesforce Is a Strong Growth Stock Salesforce Record Stock Buybacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Results are the next catalyst: Analysts are focused on revenue, EPS, and operating metrics for the quarter ended July 2026. Salesforce previously reported $11.13 billion of quarterly revenue, up 13.3% year over year, and EPS of $3.88, above consensus. Salesforce Q2 Earnings Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: AI platform positioning: Coverage comparing Salesforce with ServiceNow suggests investors are rotating toward enterprise application software as AI investment broadens beyond hardware. Salesforce’s Headless 360 strategy and the Agiloft integration on AgentExchange offer additional evidence of ecosystem expansion. Salesforce Versus ServiceNow
• Negative Sentiment: Risks remain: The buybacks were funded partly with $25 billion of new debt, increasing leverage and interest obligations. Separate commentary questions whether Salesforce could become a value trap if growth slows or AI monetization disappoints. Salesforce Value Trap Analysis

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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