Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given “Overweight” Rating at Piper Sandler

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by investment analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $215.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.88% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $272.73.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE CRM opened at $177.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $145.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.16. Salesforce has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $278.81.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after purchasing an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, posting $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, while revenue grew 13% year over year. The company also lifted full-year profit guidance, which supports the case that its core business is still healthy. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related momentum remains a bright spot, with Salesforce saying Agentforce annualized revenue passed $1 billion and that AI-powered software adoption is helping growth. Investors may see this as evidence that Salesforce can monetize AI rather than just be disrupted by it. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Management said it plans to keep investing in customer-facing growth and buy back shares, which could help support the stock if execution improves. CNBC article
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the beat, Salesforce’s second-quarter revenue guidance was only around in line to slightly below expectations, which helps explain why the stock reaction has been muted rather than strongly positive. Investopedia article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are still focused on the bigger AI disruption risk, and commentary from recent coverage suggests the market remains uncertain about whether Salesforce can defend its software franchise as AI reshapes enterprise buying patterns. Proactive Investors article

Salesforce Company Profile

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.