Salesforce's (CRM) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at BTIG Research

Key Points

• BTIG Research reaffirmed a Buy rating on Salesforce and set a $255 price target, implying about 41% upside from the current share price.
• Other analysts were mixed: some lowered targets or downgraded the stock, while the overall consensus remains Moderate Buy with an average target price of $274.12.
• Salesforce recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, beating EPS estimates and posting 12.1% revenue growth year over year, while also authorizing a $25 billion share repurchase.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities researchers at BTIG Research in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $255.00 price objective on the CRM provider's stock. BTIG Research's target price points to a potential upside of 41.41% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.12.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $180.32 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $280.74. The company has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Salesforce will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value 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 represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,286,909,000 after purchasing an additional 659,573 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased 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 purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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