Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) shot up 5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $207.95 and last traded at $205.9190. 16,301,364 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 19% from the average daily volume of 13,721,013 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.14.
Key Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum supports the AI narrative. Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surged 205% as customer usage increased. Deeper integration of AI agents across Salesforce’s CRM platform could improve growth, customer retention and long-term monetization. Will Agentforce Help Salesforce Stay Ahead in the Enterprise AI Race?
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding its Headless 360 offering. The broader portfolio rollout could make Salesforce applications more flexible for developers and enterprise customers, potentially increasing platform adoption and strengthening its position in digital customer experiences. Salesforce Expands Headless 360 Across Its Portfolio
- Positive Sentiment: Anthropic provides a potential strategic and financial catalyst. Salesforce has participated in Anthropic’s funding rounds and integrates Claude into its enterprise offerings. A reported $65 billion Anthropic revenue run rate and possible IPO could highlight the value of Salesforce’s investment and AI partnerships, although the benefit remains uncertain until a valuation or liquidity event is established. The Pre-IPO Playbook: How to Cash in on Anthropic Before the Bell
- Neutral Sentiment: Sector rotation is helping sentiment. Investors have rotated from semiconductor stocks into previously pressured software names, while renewed interest in Agentforce and the approaching earnings report has brought CRM back into focus. The move reflects improving momentum, but it is partly market-driven rather than company-specific. Netflix, Salesforce, and Adobe Rally as Investors Rotate Out of Semiconductors and Into Beaten Down Stocks
- Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings are a near-term focus. Salesforce is expected to report earnings Wednesday. Analysts anticipate earnings growth, but one Zacks analysis says the company lacks the typical combination of estimate revisions and momentum that often precedes a beat, raising the risk of volatility around the report. Salesforce Earnings Expected to Grow
- Negative Sentiment: Concerns remain about software disruption. Critics caution that AI could weaken traditional software business models by reducing the value of established applications or intensifying competition. Other commentary argues the selloff has gone too far, but the debate remains an overhang for CRM’s valuation. Salesforce’s and ServiceNow’s Business Models Are in Danger
Analysts Set New Price Targets
CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Salesforce from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.49.
Salesforce Stock Performance
The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $168.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $172.00 and its 200-day moving average is $181.47.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce
Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th 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. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,396,844,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the fourth 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. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.
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