Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given "Hold (C)" Rating at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Salesforce's stock has been restated with a "Hold (C)" rating by Weiss Ratings and has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 25 analysts, indicating some mixed sentiments in the market.
• Salesforce's recent earnings eclipsed expectations, reporting $2.91 EPS against a consensus estimate of $2.78, with revenue reaching $10.24 billion for the quarter.
• Institutional investors hold a significant share of Salesforce, with 80.43% of the company's stock owned by hedge funds and other institutions, reflecting strong institutional confidence in the company.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating restated by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research note issued on Tuesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CRM. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson raised shares of Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $328.22.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.1%

Salesforce stock traded down $2.75 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $246.00. 3,718,908 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,644,746. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.73, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.19. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $244.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $258.49.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.34, for a total transaction of $540,765.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,862,826,974.14. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 76,500 shares of company stock worth $19,049,130 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,826,049,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth $2,039,196,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 27,361.5% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $933,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1,729.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $538,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longview Partners Guernsey LTD bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth $467,944,000. Hedge funds and other 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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