Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Jumps 4.5% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares jumped 4.5% to about $246.66, supported by strength in enterprise software, a major U.K. deal, recent analyst upgrades and growing enthusiasm about its AI offerings.
• Salesforce’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $5.90 versus a $3.27 consensus and revenue up 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. However, investors remain focused on whether agentic AI products can drive meaningful incremental profit and adoption.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $278.12, implying upside from the current price, while Salesforce also offers a $0.44 quarterly dividend with a 0.7% yield.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 4.5% on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $247.18 and last traded at $246.6620. Approximately 8,708,449 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 13,576,575 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.95.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is benefiting from broad strength in enterprise software, a favorable technical setup and news of a major U.K. deal, reinforcing optimism about demand for its platform. Why Is Salesforce Stock Gaining Thursday?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst upgrades have provided an additional catalyst, with analysts citing Salesforce’s earnings outlook, valuation and potential for further gains. Salesforce Shares Climb on Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: ZoomInfo was named a flagship data partner for Salesforce’s Hunter outbound sales agent. The integration of live prospect intelligence into Sales Cloud supports the company’s strategy of embedding AI directly into customer workflows. ZoomInfo Named a Flagship Data Partner for Hunter
• Positive Sentiment: Harris Associates’ Oakmark Fund highlighted Salesforce’s core enterprise software platform and AI integration as part of its investment case, suggesting institutional investors see potential for AI to increase the platform’s value. Salesforce AI Integration Enhances Platform Value
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons with ServiceNow show Salesforce remains larger by revenue, while ServiceNow has recently delivered faster year-over-year growth. Investors are weighing Salesforce’s scale against the need to accelerate growth through AI. Salesforce vs. ServiceNow Revenue Trends
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors remain skeptical that agentic AI products will generate meaningful incremental profit, leaving execution, customer adoption and monetization as key risks despite Salesforce’s strong earnings performance. Agentic AI Skepticism

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. CLSA assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, July 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. HC Wainwright lowered Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.12.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.5%

The business's 50 day moving average price is $229.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $203.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after purchasing an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $844,928,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

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.

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