Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Increases Dividend to $0.44 Per Share

Key Points

• Salesforce raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share (a 5.8% increase from $0.42), implying a $1.76 annualized payout with a ~1.0% yield; the ex-dividend and record date is April 9 and the dividend will be paid April 23.
• Company fundamentals remain solid: Salesforce beat Q results with $3.81 EPS on $11.20B revenue, provided FY27 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, and has a low dividend payout ratio (~13.9%) indicating dividends are well covered.
• Analyst views are mixed despite a "Moderate Buy" consensus: several firms cut price targets (many to ~$250) while MarketBeat's consensus target is $280.21, and the stock trades near $185, down ~1.1% and below its 200‑day average.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of 0.44 per share by the CRM provider on Thursday, April 23rd. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a 5.8% increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Salesforce has a dividend payout ratio of 13.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Salesforce to earn $8.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.9%.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $185.12 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $193.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $228.25. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped 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, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $280.21.

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.

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