Salesforce’s (CRM) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at BTIG Research in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $255.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 36.71% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $186.52 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.82.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.