Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $249.5128.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, June 12th. HSBC increased their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC raised its stake in Salesforce by 410.3% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $184.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.49. The company has a market cap of $150.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

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.