Salesforce’s (CRM) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at BTIG Research

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $255.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective points to a potential upside of 41.41% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.12.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $180.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $280.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $181.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.