Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Jumps 4.5% – Should You Buy?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was up 4.5% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $247.18 and last traded at $246.6620. Approximately 8,708,449 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 13,576,575 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.95.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Hunter, an AI-powered outbound sales agent built on Agentforce. Integrations with ZoomInfo, Demandbase and DocuSign could increase adoption of Salesforce’s higher-value AI workflows and make the platform more embedded in customers’ sales and contracting processes. Salesforce unveils Hunter for AI-powered outbound sales
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reportedly upgraded Salesforce in a rare double upgrade, citing improving confidence in the company’s AI strategy, including a small AI acquisition and changes to AI-product pricing. The upgrade supports the view that monetization could improve as customers move to premium offerings. Salesforce received a rare double upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: The Loops AI acquisition and new Agentforce capabilities reinforce Salesforce’s effort to turn AI into a growth driver, although investors will need evidence of meaningful revenue acceleration. Salesforce buys the Loops AI platform
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor interest in CRM has risen sharply, with Salesforce appearing among heavily searched stocks. This may increase visibility but is not, by itself, a fundamental catalyst. Investors heavily search Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Enterprise-software shares are falling as worries spread that aggressive AI infrastructure and financing commitments may not generate sufficient returns. Salesforce is being pulled lower alongside other AI-linked software leaders. Enterprise software stocks fall as AI financing worries spread
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are comparing Salesforce’s premium-edition price increases with Adobe’s more user-friendly pricing approach, raising concerns that Salesforce’s AI monetization strategy could pressure customer upgrades or retention. Adobe versus Salesforce for AI software growth

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Freedom Broker raised their price target on Salesforce from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 12th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.12.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.3%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $231.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $198.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. CRA Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $303,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 9,855 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,262,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its position in Salesforce by 27.5% during the third quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,299 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.