Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 4.2% – Here’s Why

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded up 4.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $165.81 and last traded at $163.3160. 13,968,996 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 1% from the average session volume of 14,056,905 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Macquarie Infrastructure reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Susquehanna assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Salesforce from a “market outperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.42.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $135.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $173.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.