Salesforce FY2027 EPS Estimate Boosted by Erste Group Bank

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) – Erste Group Bank upped their FY2027 EPS estimates for shares of Salesforce in a research note issued on Tuesday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank analyst S. Lingnau now expects that the CRM provider will earn $9.73 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $9.72. The consensus estimate for Salesforce’s current full-year earnings is $7.46 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CRM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $179.14 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $165.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $198.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.87.

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

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in 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 buying an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during 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 buying an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major federal win — Salesforce’s Agentforce autonomous AI agents are being rolled out in the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Contact Center, a large public‑sector deployment that validates scale and recurring revenue potential for AI offerings. Salesforce AI Agents Enter US Labor Department As Valuation Lags Targets
• Positive Sentiment: Healthcare scale use case — The Veterans Health Administration deployed a Salesforce‑powered agentic operating system to automate workflows and save frontline staff hours, reinforcing enterprise traction for Agentforce in large, mission‑critical customers. VHA Deploys Salesforce-Powered Agentic Operating System, Saving Thousands of Staff Hours for Front-Line Veteran Care
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback thesis — Analysts and commentators highlight Salesforce’s aggressive capital return (including a $25B accelerated share repurchase within a $50B program) as a key catalyst to lift EPS and support the share price as buybacks meaningfully reduce float. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Neutral Sentiment: Cost and leadership moves — Salesforce is reshaping executive pay, cutting fewer than 1,000 jobs and appointing new leaders; these moves can lift margins but also signal ongoing restructuring risk. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Small analyst tweak — Erste Group nudged FY27 EPS estimates slightly higher, a data point that offers modest support but doesn’t alter consensus materially. (research note)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst/target pressure — Some outlets report notable price‑target cuts (example: a ~10.8% downward revision reported) that weigh on near‑term sentiment and downside expectations. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
• Negative Sentiment: Sector sell‑off — Commentary that software stocks have entered a bear market and coverage noting CRM is down since its last earnings report are pressuring the stock; broad sector flows can outweigh company‑specific positives in the short term. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning? Salesforce (CRM) Down 6.9% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Rebound?

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.