Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 5.9% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Salesforce shares rose 5.9% to about $173.34 in Monday trading, with volume roughly 19% above the average.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.51, despite some recent downgrades and hold ratings.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 beating estimates of $3.13 and revenue rising 13.3% year over year to $11.13 billion. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, yielding approximately 1.0% annually.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 5.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $176.95 and last traded at $173.3390. Approximately 16,354,564 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 19% from the average daily volume of 13,795,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. CLSA started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $170.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $141.96 billion, a PE ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company 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 earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business's quarterly 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballast Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 54.0% in the second quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 9,737 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.8% in the second quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at $2,941,000. Tema ETFs LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 10.6% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 19,635 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,076,000 after buying an additional 1,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 37.4% during the second quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 426 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.