Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given "Overweight" Rating at Piper Sandler

Key Points

• Piper Sandler reissued an Overweight rating on Salesforce and set a $215 price target, implying about 21% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Salesforce holding a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $272.73, though some firms recently cut targets or downgraded the stock.
• Salesforce’s latest quarterly results beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, and the company raised guidance while highlighting AI momentum and a $25 billion share buyback authorization.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $215.00 price target on the CRM provider's stock. Piper Sandler's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.88% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $272.73.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $177.86 on Thursday. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $278.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. 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 beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, posting $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, while revenue grew 13% year over year. The company also lifted full-year profit guidance, which supports the case that its core business is still healthy. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related momentum remains a bright spot, with Salesforce saying Agentforce annualized revenue passed $1 billion and that AI-powered software adoption is helping growth. Investors may see this as evidence that Salesforce can monetize AI rather than just be disrupted by it. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Management said it plans to keep investing in customer-facing growth and buy back shares, which could help support the stock if execution improves. CNBC article
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the beat, Salesforce’s second-quarter revenue guidance was only around in line to slightly below expectations, which helps explain why the stock reaction has been muted rather than strongly positive. Investopedia article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are still focused on the bigger AI disruption risk, and commentary from recent coverage suggests the market remains uncertain about whether Salesforce can defend its software franchise as AI reshapes enterprise buying patterns. Proactive Investors article

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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