Wall Street Zen Downgrades Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) to Hold

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

CRM has been the subject of several other reports. 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 report on Thursday, September 4th. 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 research note on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.23.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $239.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $247.41 and a 200-day moving average of $258.32. Salesforce has a one year low of $226.48 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $228.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $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. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.12, for a total value of $565,020.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,233,709.52. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 72,122 shares of company stock valued at $17,785,853 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth $304,000. Sava Infond d.o.o. increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. now owns 67,985 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $16,112,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 10,870 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after acquiring an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Dempze Nancy E boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dempze Nancy E now owns 6,395 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,516,000 after acquiring an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Notis McConarty Edward boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. Notis McConarty Edward now owns 8,754 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,075,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.