Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 2.8% – Here’s What Happened

by · The Cerbat Gem

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report)’s stock price rose 2.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $188.58 and last traded at $186.27. Approximately 10,897,624 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average daily volume of 12,890,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.19.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on CRM. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.18.

View Our Latest Analysis on CRM

Salesforce Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.31. The stock has a market cap of $152.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Balefire LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 10.0% in the first quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 1,688 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 372.7% during the 1st quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 22,727 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,243,000 after purchasing an additional 17,919 shares during the period. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth about $285,000. Nelson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 8,723 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,628,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenwood Gearhart LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 8,852.9% in the 1st quarter. Greenwood Gearhart LLC now owns 77,622 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $14,490,000 after purchasing an additional 76,755 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Salesforce

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading