Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 1.8% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares rose 1.8% on Monday, trading between $170.77 and $175.39, with volume below average at about 12.2 million shares.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive: the stock has an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $252.13, though some analysts have recently trimmed or lowered their views.
• Salesforce’s latest earnings beat expectations, with $3.88 EPS versus $3.13 expected and revenue up 13.3% year over year to $11.13 billion; the company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) rose 1.8% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $175.39 and last traded at $173.8170. 12,221,944 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 13,858,134 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. HC Wainwright lowered Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $252.13.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.8%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $170.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.67. The firm has a market cap of $142.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 20.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 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.

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