Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) – Stock analysts at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2027 earnings per share estimates for shares of Salesforce in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank analyst S. Lingnau now anticipates 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.
A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on CRM. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.
Salesforce Price Performance
CRM stock opened at $185.56 on Friday. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $285,000. Cornerstone Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,784,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $139,000. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 72,134 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $19,109,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 103.6% during the fourth quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 2,400 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.
Salesforce Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.54%.
Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
More Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Major customer and government deployments of Agentforce (AI contact-center/agentic platform) provide revenue proof-points and credibility for Salesforce’s AI monetization — the U.S. Dept. of Labor and the Veterans Health Administration announced rollouts that expand addressable market and showcase large-scale, sticky deployments. U.S. Department of Labor Taps Agentforce
- Positive Sentiment: Adecco and other enterprise customers adopting Agentforce/Agentforce Voice signal cross-industry traction for Salesforce’s AI CRM, supporting revenue upside and ARR growth for AI products. Institutional client rollouts help convert product announcements into recurring revenue. Salesforce Lands DoL Deal To Power AI Agent ‘DOLA’
- Positive Sentiment: Large buyback and capital-return narrative: analysis pieces highlight Salesforce’s $50B repurchase program (including $25B accelerated repurchase) and management’s use of buybacks plus solid free cash flow — this reduces share count and supports EPS, a clear positive for investors. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
- Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains largely positive (≈75% Buy) with a $255 consensus target cited — that supports medium-term upside expectations but is tempered by varying price targets. Analyst optimism may cushion downside but won’t eliminate volatility. Analysts Bullish on Salesforce (CRM) Amid New AI Launches and Insider Purchases
- Neutral Sentiment: Cost-cutting and pay adjustments (skip raises for director-level and above, targeted layoffs <1,000) boost near-term margins but signal management balancing growth investments vs. profitability; effect depends on how reinvestment in AI proceeds. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
- Negative Sentiment: An analyst price-target cut reduced a key target by ~10.8% (to 278.01), which can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling or re-rating by funds that track targets. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
- Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide weakness: commentary that software stocks have entered a near-term bear market increases macro selling risk for growth/AI-exposed names and can drag CRM even if company-specific fundamentals remain solid. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning?
- Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting AI concerns and investor caution has contributed to pullbacks in sentiment, particularly among traders worried about AI disruption risks and valuation compression. Salesforce (CRM) Declined on AI Concerns but Remains a Mission-Critical Enterprise Platform
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.
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