Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 1.3% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) were up 1.3% on Thursday. The company traded as high as $227.95 and last traded at $227.5750. Approximately 5,409,562 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 13,729,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at $224.56.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating and $275 price target after a Dreamforce survey found that 85% of Salesforce customers had tried Agentforce. The survey suggests healthy customer spending and broad AI engagement, although the firm noted that stronger demand acceleration has not yet been demonstrated. 85% of Salesforce Customers Have Tried AgentForce. Oppenheimer Says One Thing Is Missing
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce named fraud-prevention company Forter as a launch partner for Storefront Next and expanded Forter’s tools into Loyalty Management. The partnership strengthens Salesforce’s commerce-security offering and supports the company’s push to grow its commerce platform. Salesforce Names a Launch Partner for Storefront Next
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s free-cash-flow yield is estimated at 8.2% of its market value, well above the S&P 500 median of 4.5%. That supports the view that CRM is attractively valued and has financial flexibility for buybacks, investment or other shareholder returns. Should You Buy Salesforce Stock for Its Cash?
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary points to institutional accumulation and improving momentum in Salesforce as fears that AI will make enterprise software obsolete have eased. Analysts and strategists see customer switching costs, Agentforce adoption and a depressed valuation as potential catalysts for a re-rating. Salesforce Turns the Corner as AI Fears Start to Fade
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer said he prefers Salesforce while discussing software-stock recoveries, providing favorable media visibility but not a fundamental change to earnings expectations. Jim Cramer Has Reservations About One of These Software Comebacks
• Negative Sentiment: Work4Flow launched a 90-day program to help enterprises migrate from Salesforce to ServiceNow CRM, including data, custom objects and business logic. The initiative highlights a competitive threat, although one program alone does not establish meaningful customer losses for Salesforce. Work4Flow Launches 90-Day Program to Accelerate Salesforce-to-ServiceNow CRM Migration
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce continues to trail the broader market, while relatively high leverage and the need to prove that Agentforce is driving new demand—not merely existing customer usage—could limit a valuation recovery. Investors will likely focus on renewals, deal sizes and revenue growth in the next earnings report. Salesforce Stock Falls 15% YTD: Should Investors Keep Holding CRM?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CRM shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Phillip Securities cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.14.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.3%

The company has a market cap of $187.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $224.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.44.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $181,143,000 after purchasing an additional 24,332 shares during the period. Fluent Financial LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth about $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth about $1,004,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Salesforce

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.