Salesforce’s (CRM) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $185.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $287.00.

CRM has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, June 12th. Bank of America began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group decreased their target price on Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of CRM opened at $156.97 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.96. The company has a market cap of $128.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $274.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce will post 10.28 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballast Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 54.0% during the second quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 9,737 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after buying an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 12.8% in the second quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $2,941,000. Tema ETFs LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 19,635 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,076,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 426 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Navatar announced a Claude-native deal engine built on Salesforce Agentforce, highlighting continued enterprise demand for Salesforce’s platform and AI tools. Navatar Launches Claude-Native Deal Engine for Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firms on Salesforce CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce received an “Equal Weight” rating from Morgan Stanley, reinforcing a cautious but not outright bearish stance from one major broker. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Montaka Global Investments described Salesforce as having a compelling outlook, suggesting some long-term investors still see value in the company’s AI and platform strategy. Key Catalysts Behind Salesforce’s (CRM) Compelling Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut Salesforce’s price target by 35% and downgraded the stock to Equal Weight, signaling reduced upside expectations. Morgan Stanley Slashes Salesforce Price Target By 35%
• Negative Sentiment: Another report said CRM’s recent downgrade reflects a “balanced” risk/reward profile, with analysts seeing no major growth inflection in the near term. CRM Stock Snags Second Rating Downgrade This Month
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce fell more than the broader market as the stock continued to trade under pressure from sentiment around software valuations and AI competition. Here’s Why Salesforce (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

Salesforce Company Profile

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.