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

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $280.2059.

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price 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. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CRM opened at $195.12 on Tuesday. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $180.09 billion, a PE ratio of 24.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $202.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $232.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 98.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after buying an additional 10,633 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% during the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Salesforce by 15.1% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.