Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CRM. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.23.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE CRM opened at $239.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Salesforce has a one year low of $226.48 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.40 billion, a PE ratio of 34.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 24.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.50, for a total value of $543,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,876,644,396.50. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 74,372 shares of company stock valued at $18,317,866. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after buying an additional 748,772 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,452,998,000 after purchasing an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after purchasing an additional 114,504 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,826,049,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,258,518 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,484,616,000 after purchasing an additional 600,386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.