Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 1.8% Higher – Here’s What Happened
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemSalesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report)’s share price rose 1.8% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $264.63 and last traded at $264.5610. Approximately 5,515,092 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 7,862,766 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.91.
Analyst Ratings Changes
CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Citigroup downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.68.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CRM
Salesforce Price Performance
The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $248.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $251.67. The firm has a market cap of $248.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.25.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total transaction of $582,772.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,085,216,004.71. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 168,534 shares of company stock valued at $39,985,777 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.0% during the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 87,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,814,000 after purchasing an additional 3,387 shares in the last quarter. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,458,000. Advyzon Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 57.4% in the 2nd quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC now owns 1,884 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the period. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 206,614 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $56,342,000 after acquiring an additional 16,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Country Club Bank boosted its position in Salesforce by 337.8% during the third quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 20,632 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,057,000 after purchasing an additional 15,919 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.