Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fifty-two brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation, thirty-two have assigned a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $278.98.
Several research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CRM
Insider Activity
In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at $40,945,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 184.5% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,817,000 after buying an additional 11,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Next Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter worth $2,119,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Salesforce Stock Up 0.1%
NYSE:CRM opened at $213.96 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.
More Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s planned acquisition of AI voice-agent company Cresta could strengthen Agentforce and Service Cloud, adding capabilities for customer-service automation. The deal also brings acquisition costs and execution risks. Article: Salesforce Bets on AI Voice Agents With Planned Cresta Acquisition
- Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Salesforce from “hold” to “strong buy,” a favorable analyst signal that may help counter near-term concerns. Article: Zacks Research rating
- Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding its Coworker offering and promoting a 21-times growth claim, but the report notes that no baseline is provided, making the figure difficult to assess. Article: Salesforce Expands Coworker’s Reach, but Its 21× Growth Claim Has No Baseline
- Neutral Sentiment: The company is extending Agent Fabric to help businesses manage AI agents across platforms. Its large customer base and reported 1.2 billion daily requests suggest potential, but investors still need evidence that the AI activity will translate into meaningful revenue. Article: Salesforce Stock: The 1 Number Investors Still Need to See
- Negative Sentiment: A broader software sell-off is weighing on CRM, while S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A from A+. S&P cited acquisition spending and a $25 billion debt-financed buyback, which lifted pro forma net debt relative to EBITDA above its previous downgrade threshold. The rating action raises concerns about leverage and aggressive capital allocation. Article: S&P cuts Salesforce to A on rising acquisition debt and buybacks
About Salesforce
Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce.
The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce’s products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.
Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and other co-founders, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco.
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