Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Acquires Shares of 7,546 Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Asahi Life Asset Management acquired 7,546 Salesforce shares worth approximately $1.18 million, while institutional investors overall own 80.43% of CRM’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with Salesforce carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $249.49; JPMorgan initiated coverage with an “Overweight” rating and a $250 target.
• Salesforce exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $3.88 in EPS and $11.13 billion in revenue, while investors await the upcoming earnings report for evidence of AI-driven growth and Agentforce monetization.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,546 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,182,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $62,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,417,000. United Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,766,000. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,985,000. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $297,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp lowered Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays raised Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.49.

Salesforce Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $205.92 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $172.69 and a 200-day moving average of $181.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $168.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce'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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce adoption is accelerating. Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surged 205%, suggesting rising customer usage and deeper integration of AI agents into its CRM platform. This supports the company’s efforts to remain competitive in enterprise AI. Will Agentforce Help Salesforce Stay Ahead in the Enterprise AI Race?
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce expanded Headless 360 across its portfolio, potentially giving customers more flexible ways to deploy Salesforce data and services across digital channels. Broader product integration could support retention, cross-selling and long-term platform value. Salesforce Expands Headless 360 Across Its Portfolio
• Positive Sentiment: Sector rotation and value interest are supporting CRM. Investors have been moving from semiconductor stocks into underperforming software names, while some analysts characterize Salesforce as attractively valued for long-term investors. Netflix, Salesforce, and Adobe Rally as Investors Rotate
• Neutral Sentiment: The upcoming August 26 earnings report is the next major catalyst. Salesforce recently exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue expectations, but investors will focus on forward guidance, Agentforce monetization and whether growth can reaccelerate. Salesforce Projected to Announce Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic exposure offers a potential strategic benefit. Salesforce has participated in Anthropic funding rounds and integrates Claude, giving CRM indirect exposure to the enterprise AI company’s reported growth and possible future valuation gains. The Pre-IPO Playbook: How to Cash in on Anthropic Before the Bell
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term earnings expectations remain a risk. Zacks said Salesforce lacks the combination of factors that typically supports a likely earnings beat, raising the possibility of disappointment if guidance or AI-related results fall short. Salesforce Earnings Expected to Grow
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst upgrades have not consistently translated into sustained gains. This keeps the stock dependent on tangible earnings evidence, particularly as investors question whether generative AI could weaken traditional software business models. Analyst upgrades keep failing Salesforce

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.

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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