Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Up 3.1% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price shot up 3.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $194.70 and last traded at $192.4810. 10,809,702 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 13,748,442 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays upgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $157.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $171.20 and its 200 day moving average is $183.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $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 analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.