Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Up 3.2% – What’s Next?

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) rose 3.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $186.39 and last traded at $185.0210. Approximately 11,513,838 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 12,800,511 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $170.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $198.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.64.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.