Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Salesforce has an average analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” across 37 covering firms, with 25 buy ratings and an average 12-month price target of about $257.97.
• Recent analyst updates have been mixed but generally constructive, including price-target cuts from some firms while others, such as Needham and UBS, maintained bullish views on the stock.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue expectations, and it also highlighted a $25 billion share buyback, a quarterly dividend, and insider share purchases by directors.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the thirty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $257.9697.

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased 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 $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $185.85 on Friday. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $276.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $181.31 and a 200-day moving average of $208.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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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