Portland Investment Counsel Inc. Takes $607,000 Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Portland Investment Counsel purchased 3,875 Salesforce shares worth approximately $607,000 during the second quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of the company.
• Salesforce recently reported better-than-expected results, with quarterly revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year, and EPS of $3.88. Analysts remain generally positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $249.87.
• Investor attention is centered on Salesforce’s AI-driven growth and planned buybacks, but risks include higher leverage from $25 billion in new debt and potential disappointment if growth or AI monetization slows.

Portland Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake 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 purchased 3,875 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $607,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew 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 worth $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

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 Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $209.20 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.35. The company has a market cap of $171.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. B. Riley Financial boosted their price target on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Piper Sandler cut Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Salesforce from $187.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. CLSA began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays raised Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Two 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.87.

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.

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