Rakuten Securities Inc. Makes New $1.20 Million Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,676 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,203,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CRM. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its position in Salesforce by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $181,143,000 after buying an additional 24,332 shares during the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel boosted its position in Salesforce by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,608,000 after acquiring an additional 7,871 shares during the last quarter. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,265,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,004,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,846,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.87.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $209.20 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $171.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $174.33 and a 200-day moving average of $181.56.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

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

Salesforce Company 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.