The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Makes New $492.07 Million Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,140,986 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $492,067,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,182,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Salesforce by 130.2% in the first 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 during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $844,928,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $209.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.32 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Salesforce from $200.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays raised Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.87.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG Research reaffirmed its Buy rating and set a $255 price target, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. The bullish view reflects confidence in Salesforce’s AI opportunity and earnings outlook. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: One analyst argues Salesforce remains undervalued, citing its AI-enabled growth potential, modest valuation and significant share repurchases. The company’s reported $27.5 billion buyback has reduced shares outstanding and could provide support for earnings per share and the stock. Salesforce Forcing Itself Higher Through Massive Buybacks And AI-Led Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect AI cloud demand, acquisitions and disciplined spending to support second-quarter results, with revenue growth forecast at approximately 10.6%. Salesforce is also being discussed as a potential beneficiary of broader enterprise AI adoption. Salesforce Set to Report Q2 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce has rallied toward the $210 area and is testing a resistance zone near its June high. A strong earnings reaction could determine whether the recent advance continues or stalls. Salesforce Stock Hits a Crucial Resistance Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: The main risk is that Salesforce’s earnings report fails to demonstrate a meaningful sales-growth reacceleration. Analysts and investors remain cautious about slower software growth, elevated AI expectations and the possibility that the broader AI trade could weaken. Salesforce Earnings Due: Will Sales Growth Reacceleration Hold Up?

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.