Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 3.4% – What’s Next?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price shot up 3.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $180.78 and last traded at $179.3920. 13,521,349 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 12,884,109 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.51.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some coverage highlighted Salesforce’s growing AI push, including Agentforce reaching nearly $800 million in annual recurring revenue and more than 29,000 deals, suggesting the company’s agentic AI strategy could help reaccelerate subscription growth. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: Several pre-earnings notes said Wall Street still expects Salesforce to post earnings growth and possibly beat estimates again, which can support sentiment ahead of next week’s report. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also benefited from a broader rebound in software stocks as investors became less concerned that AI agents will immediately disrupt traditional enterprise software models. Article title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary from the Globe and Mail and MarketBeat discussed Salesforce alongside other tech names, but did not add a major new catalyst by itself. Article title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary framing Salesforce as part of a broader “great cloud divide” suggested investors are still debating whether AI helps or hurts legacy SaaS leaders. Article title
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reinstated Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI is forcing an “AI-driven structural reset” that could limit long-term growth and implies downside from current levels. Article title
• Negative Sentiment: Citi also cut its target on Salesforce, citing slower deal activity and rising competitive pressure, reinforcing concerns that growth could be decelerating. Article title
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation-focused coverage questioned whether Salesforce’s share-price decline reflects slowing growth and uncertainty about how well its AI moat will monetize. Article title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.56.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.34. The company has a market cap of $147.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.