Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 2% on Analyst Upgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price rose 2% during mid-day trading on Monday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from an underperform rating to a buy rating. Bank of America now has a $285.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $160.00. Salesforce traded as high as $240.90 and last traded at $233.7440. Approximately 8,692,984 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 13,659,538 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.13.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on CRM. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, September 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $289.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 18th. Wedbush started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $192.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $226.55 and its 200 day moving average is $192.91.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.