Benjamin Edwards Inc. Lowers Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 25,147 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position 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 valued at $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,914,086,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,182,951,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.2%

CRM stock opened at $256.60 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is $181.24 and its 200 day moving average is $182.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $211.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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 12.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Trending Headlines about 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Salesforce from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. HC Wainwright cut Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.