Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Upgraded at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on CRM. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $185.00 price target (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $192.48 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $157.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its stake in Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Salesforce

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.