Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) shares traded up 5.4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $158.46 and last traded at $158.2260. 19,867,233 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 41% from the average session volume of 14,057,113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.19.
Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen reaffirmed its Buy rating and $240 price target on Salesforce, citing AI momentum and continued traction for Agentforce as growth drivers. TD Cowen Reaffirms Buy Rating on Salesforce (CRM) as AI Momentum and Agentforce Drive Growth
- Positive Sentiment: Multiple commentary pieces argue Salesforce is being oversold and may be an attractive value play after the selloff, with one article pointing to the company’s large enterprise software franchise and AI capabilities as reasons the market may be underestimating the business. Salesforce: Taking Advantage Of The Market’s Misunderstanding Of Enterprise Software
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI strategy remains in focus, including the launch of new agentic tools such as Agentforce and Agentic Advisor, which are being framed as efforts to reaccelerate growth and improve monetization of its enterprise CRM platform. Salesforce Agentforce: A Comprehensive Enterprise Cheat Sheet and Review
- Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks article notes Salesforce is still down meaningfully since its last earnings report and asks whether the stock can rebound, reinforcing that investors are still waiting for proof that recent AI initiatives can translate into a sustained turnaround. Salesforce (CRM) Down 14.8% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Rebound?
- Negative Sentiment: One report says Salesforce’s new AI-focused offering for RIAs is drawing concerns about costs, implementation hassles, and whether the product will deliver enough benefit, suggesting some skepticism around near-term adoption of its AI products. Salesforce tries to catch up on AI and halt precipitous stock slide with launch of ‘Agentic Advisor’ for RIAs
- Negative Sentiment: A broader AI selloff across big tech and software names is creating a tougher backdrop for Salesforce, which can pressure valuation multiples even when company-specific news is favorable. The AI Selloff Is Getting Brutal: 10 Tech Giants Already Deep in Bear Market Territory
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Macquarie Infrastructure decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.61.
Salesforce Trading Up 5.4%
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.59 billion, a PE ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.16.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.
Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Salesforce by 130.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in Salesforce by 924.7% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,028,807,000 after buying an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
About Salesforce
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.
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