Salesforce's (CRM) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reiterated a "buy" rating for Salesforce, with a target price of $400.00, indicating a potential upside of 69.06% from its current price.
• Salesforce reported $2.91 EPS in its latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue reaching $10.24 billion, a year-over-year increase of 9.8%.
• Currently, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with 25 buy ratings, 13 hold ratings, and one sell rating.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $400.00 price target on the CRM provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price points to a potential upside of 69.06% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $370.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Twenty-five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $328.22.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.3%

CRM stock opened at $236.60 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $244.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.21. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $226.48 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $225.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. 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 expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.45, for a total transaction of $532,012.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,816,490,962.95. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,572,233. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in 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 buying an additional 909,853 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Salesforce by 1.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 0.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $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% in 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 in the last quarter. 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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