BTIG Research Initiates Coverage on Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Investment analysts at BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 29.79% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Arete Research raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.68.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $258.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $241.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $246.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.81. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $221.96 and a 12-month high of $367.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.Salesforce’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. The trade was a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.64, for a total transaction of $550,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,914,046,729.44. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 173,034 shares of company stock valued at $41,097,367 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $21,228,624,000 after acquiring an additional 748,772 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,669,224,000 after purchasing an additional 114,504 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.