Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 132,625 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,945,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of CRM opened at $256.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $181.24 and a 200 day moving average of $182.55.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly beat and raised outlook: Salesforce reported adjusted EPS of $5.90 versus the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion, broadly topping expectations. Management raised its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to approximately $46.1 billion-$46.4 billion and pointed to stronger bookings, lower attrition and potential organic growth reacceleration. Salesforce Stock Soars After Strong Results, Raised Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership strengthens the growth narrative: Salesforce expanded its alliance with Anthropic, integrating Claude into Agentforce and launching “Claudeforce,” which places Salesforce CRM capabilities inside Claude. Investors viewed the agreement as evidence that Salesforce can monetize AI and benefit from rising usage; Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue approached $3.9 billion, with Agentforce ARR reaching about $1.5 billion. Salesforce Soars on Earnings Beat and AI Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support: Wolfe Research upgraded CRM to “strong buy,” while several firms raised price targets, including Truist to $300, JPMorgan to $265 and Mizuho to $265. Heavy trading and reports of institutional buying suggest investors are reassessing the stock’s valuation and the broader software sector’s AI prospects.
• Neutral Sentiment: Profit quality warrants scrutiny: Strategic investment gains contributed $2.53 of the $5.90 adjusted EPS, including an estimated $2.7 billion unrealized gain tied to Salesforce’s Anthropic investment. This boosted reported earnings but may not represent recurring operating performance. Salesforce Stock Just Soared. Thank Anthropic.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and execution risks remain: After the rally, some analysts still see limited upside or downside, with UBS, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo retaining neutral or equivalent ratings. Critics also caution that Anthropic could control the AI orchestration layer, potentially limiting Salesforce’s long-term strategic leverage, while the rapid move may already price in much of the AI opportunity.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on Salesforce from $236.00 to $276.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Salesforce from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $261.15.

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.