Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Makes New $69.90 Million Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 446,200 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $69,902,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $252.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.51 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.16. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.03.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 23.35% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong quarterly performance: Salesforce reported adjusted EPS of $5.90, well above the $3.27 consensus, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion, slightly exceeding expectations. Profit was also helped by gains on strategic investments, including Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic. Salesforce stock jumps on AI growth and Anthropic investment gain
• Positive Sentiment: Raised outlook: Management lifted fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $46.1 billion-$46.4 billion and EPS guidance to $16.67-$16.71. Third-quarter EPS guidance of $3.42-$3.44 also topped the $3.16 analyst estimate, signaling confidence in demand and profitability. Salesforce raises annual revenue forecasts on AI product momentum
• Positive Sentiment: AI adoption is gaining traction: Current remaining performance obligations accelerated 14% in constant currency, while Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue approached $3.9 billion. Reports also highlighted a sixfold increase in AI usage, supporting the view that AI may expand Salesforce’s platform rather than replace it. Jim Cramer says Nvidia and Salesforce earnings upended two bear narratives
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic partnership expands Salesforce’s AI offering: The “Claudeforce” initiative integrates Anthropic’s Claude with Salesforce workflows, data and governance, including prebuilt sales skills. Investors view the partnership as a potential catalyst for Agentforce adoption and AI monetization. Salesforce and Anthropic announce Claudeforce
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst reaction improved: JPMorgan, Mizuho, BMO, Truist and Monness Crespi raised their price targets, with targets ranging from $260 to $300; Needham maintained a Buy rating with a $400 target. The results were widely described as weakening the “SaaSpocalypse” bear thesis. Salesforce Q2 results squash SaaSpocalypse fears

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Salesforce from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $261.15.

Salesforce 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.