Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 1.2% – What’s Next?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shot up 1.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $267.83 and last traded at $266.0610. 5,904,796 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 7,024,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $262.90.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Northland Capmk lowered shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.74.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $249.96 and its 200-day moving average is $251.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.30 billion, a PE ratio of 35.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.16%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 157,284 shares of company stock valued at $37,274,684. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after acquiring an additional 748,772 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after purchasing an additional 114,504 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.