Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Salesforce has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen, potentially signaling positive market sentiment for the stock.
• Despite the upgrade, various other analysts have lowered their price targets for Salesforce, with current consensus indicating a target price of $331.89.
• Salesforce reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $2.91 surpassing estimates, demonstrating solid financial performance and a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.8%.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson raised Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $331.89.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $242.11 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $244.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.93. The stock has a market cap of $230.49 billion, a PE ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.19. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $226.48 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.79, for a total value of $539,527.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,856,275,610.09. The trade was 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 available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,634,805 over the last ninety days. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,823,481 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $24,221,275,000 after acquiring an additional 909,853 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Salesforce by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $13,452,998,000 after acquiring an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after acquiring an additional 114,504 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $2,826,049,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 6.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,258,518 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,484,616,000 after acquiring an additional 600,386 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

About Salesforce

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.