Salesforce’s (CRM) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $400.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.50.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:CRM opened at $259.39 on Wednesday. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The stock has a market cap of $213.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Synergy Financial Group LTD boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% in the third quarter. Synergy Financial Group LTD now owns 2,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 199 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Krane Funds Advisors LLC now owns 8,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,187,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,445,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI growth is becoming material: Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue reached nearly $3.9 billion, up more than 210% year over year. Agentforce ARR exceeded $1.5 billion and grew more than 240%, supporting the view that Salesforce is successfully monetizing artificial intelligence. Salesforce Grew Agentforce and Data 360 ARR More Than 200%
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its Salesforce price target to $300, while BTIG reaffirmed its “Buy” rating and said it is increasingly confident in improving business trends. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Salesforce Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder returns: Salesforce declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.44 per share, payable October 8 to shareholders of record September 17. The dividend provides a modest income component and signals continued confidence in cash generation. Salesforce Announces Quarterly Dividend

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.