Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Climb 3% – Time to Buy?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded up 3% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $239.45 and last traded at $236.5210. Approximately 9,560,184 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 13,908,743 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, September 21st. Argus raised their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.83.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,211,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,467,811 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,508,137,000 after buying an additional 226,013 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.