Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from an underperform rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $229.13, but opened at $236.65. Bank of America now has a $285.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $160.00. Salesforce shares last traded at $235.4810, with a volume of 1,977,314 shares traded.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CRM. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.12.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America upgraded Salesforce from Underperform to Buy and raised its price target to $285 from $160. The firm believes AI should strengthen demand for enterprise software platforms, citing Agentforce growth, Salesforce’s valuation, and its large share-repurchase program. The upgrade helped improve sentiment toward CRM after a period of underperformance. Salesforce Just Got a Rare Double Upgrade—What Changed?
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Loops, an AI-powered analytics platform, reportedly for about $30 million. Loops could enhance Tableau and Slack by proactively identifying business anomalies, explaining performance changes, and recommending actions. The technology supports Salesforce’s push toward “agentic” and embedded AI, potentially increasing platform usage and customer retention. Salesforce to buy AI-powered analytics platform Loops
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum and capital returns are strengthening the investment case. Coverage says Agentforce has surpassed an estimated $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue, while remaining performance obligations rose about 14% to $33.5 billion. Salesforce’s approximately $25 billion accelerated buyback could further support earnings per share and valuation. Bear to bull: A double upgrade of Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Docusign expanded its Salesforce partnership by making its Intelligent Agreement Management platform available natively across Salesforce, Agentforce, and Slack. The agreement reinforces Salesforce’s role as a central workflow platform and provides another use case for its AI agents. Docusign and Salesforce Launch Intelligent Agreement Management
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarterly results showed a significant EPS beat and roughly 11% year-over-year revenue growth, but investors continue to seek evidence that AI adoption will accelerate overall sales rather than merely improve product engagement.
• Negative Sentiment: The main risk is AI cannibalization. Investors worry that automation could reduce demand for traditional per-seat software licenses. Salesforce is responding with usage-based pricing, but Loops integration and Agentforce trials must translate into paid upgrades and sustained organic growth. Elevated short interest and integration risk add further pressure. What Would It Take For Salesforce Stock To Move Higher?

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV now owns 6,422 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 3,396 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,274 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in Salesforce by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 1,126 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $195.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $228.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.