Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Buys 13,045 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm 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 quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $1,914,086,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $844,928,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. CLSA began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:CRM opened at $221.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $182.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $239.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.72.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Key Salesforce News

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

Salesforce 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.