Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Short Interest Up 240.2% in March

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 77,814,603 shares, a growth of 240.2% from the March 15th total of 22,873,808 shares. Approximately 8.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 12,752,004 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $164.99 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $189.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.19. The stock has a market cap of $152.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $296.05.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was 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 owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.