Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CRM. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.89.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $248.77 on Friday. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $226.48 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $244.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $258.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $236.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.34, for a total transaction of $540,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,862,826,974.14. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 76,500 shares of company stock worth $19,049,130. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marion Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the third quarter. Marion Wealth Management now owns 13,116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,118 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,820,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Tlwm increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tlwm now owns 9,205 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,182,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.4% in the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 105,605 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,028,000 after purchasing an additional 3,429 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 22.9% during the third quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $17,452,000 after acquiring an additional 13,509 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.