Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Earns Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research report issued on Monday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CRM. Erste Group Bank raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $236.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $237.91 on Monday. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $212.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.20.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Analysts expect that Salesforce will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,751,073,000 after acquiring an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,211,515,000 after acquiring an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AIforce expands Salesforce’s AI strategy. At Dreamforce 2026, Salesforce introduced AIforce, an open and provider-agnostic AI layer designed to connect governed, agentic AI across customer workflows and partner ecosystems. Integrations with AWS and Google Cloud, along with adoption of Agentforce and Data Cloud 360, support the argument that Salesforce could become an operating backbone for enterprise AI. Can Salesforce’s New AIforce Layer Deepen Its Ecosystem Moat and Monetization Story for CRM?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support is improving. Wells Fargo raised its Salesforce price target, citing customer demand for Agentforce and the possibility that approximately $1.5 billion in Agentforce annual recurring revenue can accelerate growth. Other recent commentary argues that Salesforce’s agentic-AI business is scaling faster than its valuation suggests. Wells Fargo Raises Salesforce’s Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Sector strength and valuation are providing support. Enterprise software stocks rallied even as broader large-cap technology shares weakened, while value- and momentum-oriented screens continued to highlight CRM. Salesforce’s valuation remains more moderate than many high-growth technology companies, which may attract investors seeking established software exposure. Enterprise Software Stocks Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s AI investments. CEO Marc Benioff said the company’s investment in Anthropic was partly a response to being unable to invest in OpenAI, and could ultimately be worth tens of billions. The potential is significant, but returns depend on the broader AI ecosystem and Salesforce’s ability to convert investments into software revenue. Marc Benioff says Salesforce’s investment in Anthropic
• Negative Sentiment: AI disruption remains the principal risk. Critics argue that large installed customer bases can make it difficult for Salesforce to adapt quickly as AI changes enterprise software, while worsening Agentforce unit economics could limit profitability even if usage grows. Investors therefore need evidence that AI adoption will produce durable, high-margin revenue rather than increase costs or cannibalize existing CRM products. Salesforce: AWU Economics Are Worsening

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology and related enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data analytics and business operations through subscription-based software and cloud services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud and the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and artificial intelligence capabilities, including its Agentforce platform for building and deploying AI agents.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves businesses and organizations across a broad range of industries and geographic markets worldwide.