Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Up 4% on Strong Earnings

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) were up 4% on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $201.04 and last traded at $199.38. Approximately 26,082,087 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 108% from the average daily volume of 12,516,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.75.

The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and upbeat FY EPS outlook — Salesforce reported stronger-than-expected adjusted EPS ($3.81) and raised FY27 EPS guidance well above consensus, signaling margin leverage and profit durability. Salesforce Q4 earnings / press materials
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital returns — management authorized a $50 billion buyback and raised the quarterly dividend, boosting shareholder returns and supporting EPS per-share growth through repurchases. CNBC: Salesforce commits $50 billion for new buybacks
• Positive Sentiment: Early AI (Agentforce) commercial traction — management and coverage note that Agentforce and other AI offerings are beginning to convert into measurable revenue, helping justify the guidance and longer-term targets. MarketBeat: Salesforce’s AI Bet Is Paying Off—the Buyback Proves It
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue growth is solid but not accelerating — Q4 revenue grew ~12% Y/Y; some outlets frame results as “good but not game-changing,” leaving upside tied to mid-year reacceleration. Zacks: Q4 Earnings Beat, Revenues Rise
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst reactions — while many firms maintain Buy/Outperform stances, a number of analysts trimmed price targets to reflect slower near-term growth; the consensus remains skewed positive but with lower near-term expectations. MarketBeat: Analysts’ reactions and price-target moves
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term growth slowdown flagged — Jefferies highlights that cRPO growth (~13% CC) only matched guidance and lacked the upside investors had seen previously, raising concern about mid-year reacceleration. Proactive: Salesforce faces near-term growth slowdown, Jefferies says
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple price-target cuts and at least one downgrade — several firms cut targets (examples include Sanford Bernstein’s underperform and multiple lower PTs reported by Benzinga/TickerReport), reflecting reduced near-term expectations and pressuring sentiment. TickerReport: Analyst moves and downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Investor worry about AI-driven software disruption persists — despite Agentforce traction, headlines and analyst notes show continued concern that AI could compress long-term pricing/penetration for traditional SaaS, keeping volatility elevated. WSJ: AI threat to software concern

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 4.0%

The firm has a market cap of $186.82 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.86.

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.