Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Key Points

• Salesforce short interest fell sharply: Short interest declined 36.7% to 29.4 million shares as of July 31, representing 3.7% of shares outstanding and 2.2 days to cover.
• Institutional ownership remains high: Several institutional investors increased their Salesforce holdings, with hedge funds and other institutions owning 80.43% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment is moderately bullish: Salesforce has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $249.49, while shares recently traded at $196.28 after rising 2.8%.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 29,406,370 shares, a decrease of 36.7% from the July 15th total of 46,465,690 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,243,191 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial downgraded Salesforce from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. HC Wainwright cut Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays raised shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of Salesforce from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $228.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.49.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of CRM stock traded up $5.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $196.28. 14,142,050 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,701,377. The stock has a market cap of $160.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.69.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce will post 10.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

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.

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