Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Key Points

• Citigroup lowered its price target on Salesforce from $200 to $188 while keeping a neutral rating, implying about 9.5% upside from the prior close.
• Shares fell 3.2% to $171.73 on the day, even as Salesforce’s recent earnings beat expectations with EPS of $3.81 and revenue of $11.20 billion.
• Salesforce also announced a $25 billion share buyback and saw insider buying from two directors, signals that may reflect management confidence in the stock’s valuation.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by investment analysts at Citigroup from $200.00 to $188.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the CRM provider's stock. Citigroup's target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.48% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.82.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of NYSE CRM traded down $5.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $171.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,598,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,857,627. 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 cap of $140.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) 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. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm 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, analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated 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 generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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