Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 4.2% – Here’s What Happened
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailySalesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report)’s share price traded up 4.2% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $188.67 and last traded at $185.6410. 15,324,397 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 29% from the average session volume of 11,875,029 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.16.
Key Stories Impacting Salesforce
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Sector relief rally: U.S. software stocks rallied after announcements tied to AI startup Anthropic, lifting peers including Salesforce and helping reverse recent AI-driven selling pressure. Read More.
- Positive Sentiment: Product and M&A momentum: Salesforce has been expanding its AI stack (Momentum acquisition, deeper integrations for Agentforce/Slackbot and partnerships for identity/governance), reinforcing its AI roadmap and revenue/automation use cases. Read More.
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullish views: Some firms and commentators (Wedbush reaffirmation, Jim Cramer commentary, and bullish SA/Seeking Alpha previews) frame the recent sell-off as an overreaction and a buying opportunity given CRM’s data depth and margin improvement potential. Read More. • Read More. • Read More.
- Neutral Sentiment: Earnings risk and event-driven volatility: Salesforce reports after the bell Wednesday — markets expect a sizable implied move, which can amplify short-term swings regardless of fundamental headlines. Read More.
- Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst positioning: KeyCorp cut its price target (from $400 to $300) but kept an overweight rating, and broader analyst coverage shows a wide range of views — adds both upside potential and uncertainty. Read More. • Read More.
- Negative Sentiment: Price-target cuts & downgrade risk: Several outlets flagged large price-target reductions ahead of earnings, feeding caution that consensus estimates and sentiment may be reset lower if guidance disappoints. Read More.
- Negative Sentiment: Structural/volatility concerns: Commentators warn Salesforce has experienced rapid drawdowns in recent years and that stalled top-line growth or persistent SBP (stock-based compensation) costs could trigger renewed weakness if quarterly results miss expectations. Read More. • Read More.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Northland Securities raised their target price on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.56.
Get Our Latest Analysis on CRM
Salesforce Trading Up 4.2%
The firm has a market capitalization of $173.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $229.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.57.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,751,073,000 after acquiring an additional 791,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
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.