Salesforce's (CRM) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its “equal weight” rating on Salesforce, but sharply cut its price target to $185 from $287, implying only about 6.4% upside from the current price.
• Other analysts were mixed on Salesforce, with recent ratings ranging from buy to negative; MarketBeat shows an overall consensus of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.51.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $3.88 EPS versus estimates of $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $185.00 price objective on the CRM provider's stock, down from their previous price objective of $287.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.43% from the company's current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. HC Wainwright downgraded Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Susquehanna initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.8%

Salesforce stock opened at $173.82 on Tuesday. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $274.00. The stock has a market cap of $142.36 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $170.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The firm'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. Research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

About Salesforce

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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