Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Salesforce has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, based on coverage from 39 analysts, with most rating it a buy and an average 12-month price target of about $278.82.
• The company reported strong recent earnings, beating expectations on both EPS and revenue, while also highlighting continued growth in AI-related products like Agentforce and Data 360 and generating substantial free cash flow.
• Despite those positives, CRM shares are under pressure, trading well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages; recent news also included a dividend increase and a $25 billion share repurchase authorization.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the thirty-nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $278.8235.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 17th. 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 restated a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is generating substantial free cash flow, with fiscal 2026 free cash flow of about $14.4 billion supporting shareholder returns and continued investment in AI products like Agentforce and Data 360. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to Salesforce trading at a discounted valuation after a sharp year-to-date slide, which may attract value-focused investors if growth from Agentforce and Data Cloud continues to improve recurring revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo reiterated a Hold rating on Salesforce, suggesting a cautious but not outright negative stance from analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup lowered its price target on Salesforce to $188 from $200 while keeping a Neutral rating, indicating some valuation caution but still implying modest upside from current levels. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has been under pressure recently, with the stock lagging the broader market and falling sharply from recent highs, which is weighing on sentiment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: New research suggesting the Salesforce delivery lifecycle is “broken” could raise concerns about implementation complexity and execution risks for enterprise customers and partners. Article Title

Salesforce Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $171.28 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $185.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $140.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,028,807,000 after buying an additional 3,504,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.