Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Buys New Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,812 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $754,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Costello Asset Management INC grew its position in Salesforce by 410.3% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

More 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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Phillip Securities cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Susquehanna initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.87.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $209.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $171.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.56. 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 fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.