Salesforce’s (CRM) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their overweight rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $300.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CRM. Bank of America raised shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a report on Monday, October 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of CRM opened at $248.79 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $236.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.88. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The stock has a market cap of $204.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,914,086,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Salesforce by 130.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after buying an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $844,928,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI products are reportedly growing at triple-digit rates, while its Agentforce platform and more than $14 billion in annual free cash flow could support profitable expansion. The company’s valuation may look attractive if AI adoption accelerates. Salesforce Is Betting Big on AI. The Payoff Could Be Bigger Than Investors Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “Overweight” rating, indicating continued confidence in Salesforce’s growth outlook and AI transition. Salesforce Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: The $5.66 billion Braze purchase could expand Salesforce’s customer-engagement capabilities and strengthen its push from AI defense toward a broader autonomous-agent strategy. Salesforce’s $5.6B Braze Buyout
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor comparisons with Adobe, Arista Networks and Snowflake highlight Salesforce’s CRM leadership, focus on profitable growth and AI-agent pivot, but do not represent new company-specific developments. Salesforce vs. Snowflake
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may be concerned that the Braze acquisition’s $5.66 billion price will increase integration risk and pressure near-term returns. Questions about contracts, pricing and customer impact could temper enthusiasm for the deal. Salesforce to Buy Braze for $5.66B

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.