Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Salesforce has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 47 brokerages, with 24 buy and two strong-buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is approximately $249.87, above the reported share price of $205.61.
• Institutional investors own 80.43% of Salesforce. Major investors including BlackRock, Norges Bank, Bank of America and Arrowstreet Capital have established or expanded significant positions.
• AI adoption and upcoming earnings are key catalysts. Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly rose 205%, but investors will look for proof of monetization and sustainable growth when Salesforce reports fiscal Q2 2027 results on August 26.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the forty-seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eighteen have given a hold recommendation, twenty-four have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $249.8718.

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,914,086,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $3,182,951,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 130.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,363,096,000 after buying an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst targets imply upside. Guggenheim reaffirmed its “buy” rating with a $228 price target, while Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an “overweight” rating and a $250 target. Cantor expects Salesforce to capture a meaningful share of next-generation agentic workflows. Guggenheim analyst rating Cantor Fitzgerald analyst comments
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum is a key bullish argument. Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surged 205% as customer adoption increased, strengthening the case that its AI offering can support growth and deepen customer integration. Agentforce AI analysis
• Positive Sentiment: New product distribution could expand Salesforce’s ecosystem. Agiloft announced Agiloft for Salesforce on Salesforce AgentExchange, while Salesforce is expanding its Headless 360 portfolio. These developments highlight efforts to make its platform more flexible and useful for enterprise AI and workflow applications. Agiloft for Salesforce announcement Headless 360 expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the immediate test. Salesforce is expected to report fiscal Q2 2027 results on August 26. Investors are looking for evidence that AI adoption is translating into revenue growth and sustainable guidance; recent commentary points to expectations for earnings growth but does not establish a likely beat. Salesforce earnings preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and strategic positioning remain debated. Some coverage calls CRM a long-term value opportunity, while other analysis questions whether it could be a value trap. Salesforce’s potential indirect exposure to Anthropic also adds interest, but the benefit depends on future commercial partnerships and adoption. Salesforce value trap analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst support has not resolved investor concerns. Commentary notes that repeated upgrades have failed to produce a durable rerating, keeping the focus on August 26 results rather than opinion changes from Wall Street. Analyst upgrades and Salesforce earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce may lack the setup for an earnings beat. Zacks said CRM does not currently have the right combination of indicators that typically supports a likely earnings surprise, raising the risk of disappointment if guidance or AI monetization falls short. Salesforce earnings expectations

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $205.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The company's fifty day moving average price is $173.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

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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