Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 4.7% – Here’s Why

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares were up 4.7% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $173.40 and last traded at $172.7570. Approximately 12,350,013 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 12,995,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned 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 $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $285,000. Cornerstone Planning LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,784,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $139,000. World Investment Advisors increased its stake in Salesforce by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 72,134 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $19,109,000 after purchasing an additional 4,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank increased its stake in Salesforce by 103.6% during the 4th quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 2,400 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.