Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Raises Position

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 145,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,045 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $32,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Latitude Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $610,974,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire AI startup Cresta, adding technology aimed at customer-service operations and strengthening its AI offerings. The deal supports the company’s push to monetize AI, though its price and expected financial contribution are not detailed in the announcement. Salesforce announces Cresta acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: A comparison of recent quarterly revenue trends says Salesforce has delivered steadier, more consistent expansion than IBM, a positive signal for the predictability of its business. Salesforce versus IBM revenue comparison
• Negative Sentiment: The Cresta agreement is reportedly Salesforce’s fifth major acquisition this year, and coverage highlighted concerns about the roughly $2.7 billion AI deal and the company’s ability to integrate a growing number of purchases. That raises questions about spending and execution even as the acquisitions broaden its AI capabilities. Report on Salesforce’s AI acquisition spending
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce filed a shelf registration covering 609,118 shares, valued at about $139.6 million, for an employee stock ownership plan. The shares could create some dilution and add to investor sensitivity around stock-based compensation, though this is not necessarily a broad public offering. Salesforce share registration report

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Bank of America raised Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Argus lifted their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.98.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $221.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.72. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.