Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 2.7% – Should You Buy?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shot up 2.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $191.29 and last traded at $191.02. 8,792,195 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 13,815,431 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.95.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced that its IL5-authorized Agentforce 360 AI agents have been deployed by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. The government deployment could validate Salesforce’s ability to provide secure, autonomous AI services for mission-critical workloads and potentially support growth in the public-sector business. Why Is Salesforce Deploying IL5 AI Agents in a Major Government Role?
• Positive Sentiment: Chief Executive Marc Benioff said concerns that AI will eliminate the need for Salesforce are “dead wrong,” arguing that the company is positioned to benefit from AI-powered digital labor. His comments reinforce management’s confidence in Agentforce and could help support the long-term investment case if adoption accelerates. Marc Benioff Says Wall Street’s Fears That AI Will Kill Salesforce Are Dead Wrong
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from “hold” to “buy,” adding a favorable analyst view as the stock trades well below its one-year high. Salesforce Analyst Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce promoted revenue chief Miguel Milano, a former Oracle executive, to operating chief. The move may improve execution, but investors will likely look for evidence that the new leadership structure increases growth and AI monetization. Marc Benioff Gets a New Operating Chief
• Neutral Sentiment: The company scheduled its fiscal 2027 second-quarter earnings release and webcast, giving investors a near-term catalyst to assess Agentforce demand, margins and updated guidance. Salesforce Announces Second-Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Date
• Negative Sentiment: Despite management’s optimism, Salesforce stock has fallen more than 30% in 2026. The decline suggests investors remain skeptical that AI agents will generate enough incremental revenue to offset fears of software commoditization and customer displacement. Salesforce AI and Stock Analysis

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $228.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Salesforce from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $183.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $153.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.