Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Declares Share Repurchase Program

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CRM. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore decreased their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.06.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded up $5.30 during trading on Monday, reaching $198.13. The stock had a trading volume of 13,104,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,804,150. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $182.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce commenced a historic $25 billion accelerated share repurchase (ASR), delivering ~103 million shares as the initial prepayment — the company says this is the largest-ever ASR and represents immediate execution of half of a $50 billion aggregate repurchase authorization. This reduces float and signals management confidence. Salesforce Commences Largest-Ever $25 Billion Accelerated Share Repurchase — BusinessWire
• Positive Sentiment: The Board authorized a $25 billion share-repurchase plan (up to ~14.1% of shares) via open-market purchases, reinforcing the buyback commitment and suggesting the board views the shares as undervalued. RTT News — Stock Buybacks
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets flagged the ASR launch and framed it as the largest in history, which drew buying interest and headlines boosting sentiment around Salesforce’s AI-led growth strategy paired with a large capital-return program. Salesforce commences $25B share buyback amid AI growth focus — Seeking Alpha
• Positive Sentiment: Independent coverage reports the stock climbed on the historic $25B ASR launch, amplifying momentum from the buyback news. Blockonomi — Salesforce Stock Climbs on Historic $25B ASR
• Positive Sentiment: Notable value investors showed interest in recent quarters, with coverage noting portfolio purchases (e.g., Bill Nygren) that can lend credibility to the long case. 247WallSt — Bill Nygren Bought These Value Gems
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary and retail interest pieces note heavy search and discussion around CRM and summarize bullish theses from forums and retail research — useful for gauging retail momentum but not a direct catalyst. Zacks — Investors Heavily Search Salesforce
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces recap bullish value arguments and forum-based theses on whether CRM is a buy; these provide context but largely echo the buyback and AI-growth story. Yahoo Finance — Is Salesforce A Good Stock To Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: J.P. Morgan published an options-focused piece outlining trading strategies around geopolitical uncertainty (Iran) that references CRM as an options play; this is tactical market commentary rather than fundamental company news. Seeking Alpha — J.P. Morgan Options Play

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% 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.