Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 9.5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) shot up 9.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $211.34 and last traded at $209.3260. 27,149,570 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 103% from the average session volume of 13,386,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.10.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.97.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Salesforce

Salesforce Price 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $210.36. The company has a market capitalization of $171.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

(Get Free Report)

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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