Piper Sandler Reaffirms "Overweight" Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Piper Sandler has reaffirmed an "Overweight" rating for Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) with a price target of $315.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.14% from its previous close.
• Salesforce recently reported earnings of $2.91 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenue of $10.24 billion, representing a 9.8% increase year-over-year.
• Insider trading activity showed CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares at approximately $245.91 each, reducing his ownership to about 11.9 million shares, valued at nearly $2.93 billion.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Piper Sandler in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $315.00 price objective on the CRM provider's stock. Piper Sandler's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 33.14% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Northland Capmk lowered Salesforce from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $340.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $328.22.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $236.60 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business's 50 day moving average is $244.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.21. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company's revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.91, for a total transaction of $553,297.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,929,174,424.61. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,572,233 in the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Painted Porch Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 260.0% during the 2nd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 450.0% during the first quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 110 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 314.8% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.

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