Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Up 4.3% – Should You Buy?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares rose 4.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $164.45 and last traded at $163.6540. Approximately 10,612,481 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 13,803,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.93.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded it a $1.6 billion, three-year Agentic Enterprise License Agreement to help modernize veteran care and service delivery, a meaningful sign of continued federal demand for its platform. VA Awards Salesforce $1.6B Contract to Transform Veteran Care and Services
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted Salesforce as one of the enterprise software names benefiting from government AI deals, which is helping lift sentiment across the group. ServiceNow Surges 6%, Salesforce Climbs 4% as Government AI Deals Lift Enterprise Software
• Positive Sentiment: Another bullish article argued the market is underestimating Salesforce’s fundamentals, suggesting long-term investors still see value despite recent volatility. I Haven’t Stopped Buying Salesforce For This Reason
• Neutral Sentiment: New product coverage showed Navatar launching a Claude-native deal engine on Salesforce CRM, reinforcing ecosystem momentum around Salesforce’s AI tools. Navatar Launches Claude-Native Deal Engine for Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firms on Salesforce CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce also drew fresh analysis pieces on its outlook and security posture, but these were commentary rather than hard new financial catalysts. Key Catalyst Behind Salesforce’s (CRM) Compelling Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Earlier coverage noted Salesforce had fallen more than the broader market in the prior session, reflecting lingering pressure before today’s rebound. Here’s Why Salesforce (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $181,143,000 after acquiring an additional 24,332 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 82.7% in the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,608,000 after acquiring an additional 7,871 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,004,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $997,000. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $142,521,000. 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.