Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) – Investment analysts at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Salesforce in a report issued on Tuesday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank analyst S. Lingnau now expects that the CRM provider will earn $9.73 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $9.72. The consensus estimate for Salesforce’s current full-year earnings is $7.46 per share.
A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.
Salesforce Trading Up 2.0%
Salesforce stock opened at $185.56 on Friday. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a market cap of $171.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.38.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS.
Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
Salesforce Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.54%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
More Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Major customer and government deployments of Agentforce (AI contact-center/agentic platform) provide revenue proof-points and credibility for Salesforce’s AI monetization — the U.S. Dept. of Labor and the Veterans Health Administration announced rollouts that expand addressable market and showcase large-scale, sticky deployments. U.S. Department of Labor Taps Agentforce
- Positive Sentiment: Adecco and other enterprise customers adopting Agentforce/Agentforce Voice signal cross-industry traction for Salesforce’s AI CRM, supporting revenue upside and ARR growth for AI products. Institutional client rollouts help convert product announcements into recurring revenue. Salesforce Lands DoL Deal To Power AI Agent ‘DOLA’
- Positive Sentiment: Large buyback and capital-return narrative: analysis pieces highlight Salesforce’s $50B repurchase program (including $25B accelerated repurchase) and management’s use of buybacks plus solid free cash flow — this reduces share count and supports EPS, a clear positive for investors. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
- Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains largely positive (≈75% Buy) with a $255 consensus target cited — that supports medium-term upside expectations but is tempered by varying price targets. Analyst optimism may cushion downside but won’t eliminate volatility. Analysts Bullish on Salesforce (CRM) Amid New AI Launches and Insider Purchases
- Neutral Sentiment: Cost-cutting and pay adjustments (skip raises for director-level and above, targeted layoffs <1,000) boost near-term margins but signal management balancing growth investments vs. profitability; effect depends on how reinvestment in AI proceeds. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
- Negative Sentiment: An analyst price-target cut reduced a key target by ~10.8% (to 278.01), which can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling or re-rating by funds that track targets. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
- Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide weakness: commentary that software stocks have entered a near-term bear market increases macro selling risk for growth/AI-exposed names and can drag CRM even if company-specific fundamentals remain solid. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning?
- Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting AI concerns and investor caution has contributed to pullbacks in sentiment, particularly among traders worried about AI disruption risks and valuation compression. Salesforce (CRM) Declined on AI Concerns but Remains a Mission-Critical Enterprise Platform
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.
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