Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 4.3% Higher - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Salesforce shares rose 4.3% on Friday, closing at $163.65 after trading as high as $164.45, though volume was below average.
• The biggest catalyst was a $1.6 billion, three-year contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to help modernize veteran care and service delivery, signaling strong federal demand for Salesforce’s platform.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Salesforce carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $249.51, while recent earnings beat estimates and revenue grew 13.3% year over year.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was up 4.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $164.45 and last traded at $163.6540. Approximately 10,612,481 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 13,803,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.93.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded it a $1.6 billion, three-year Agentic Enterprise License Agreement to help modernize veteran care and service delivery, a meaningful sign of continued federal demand for its platform. VA Awards Salesforce $1.6B Contract to Transform Veteran Care and Services
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlighted Salesforce as one of the enterprise software names benefiting from government AI deals, which is helping lift sentiment across the group. ServiceNow Surges 6%, Salesforce Climbs 4% as Government AI Deals Lift Enterprise Software
• Positive Sentiment: Another bullish article argued the market is underestimating Salesforce’s fundamentals, suggesting long-term investors still see value despite recent volatility. I Haven't Stopped Buying Salesforce For This Reason
• Neutral Sentiment: New product coverage showed Navatar launching a Claude-native deal engine on Salesforce CRM, reinforcing ecosystem momentum around Salesforce’s AI tools. Navatar Launches Claude-Native Deal Engine for Private Equity and M&A Advisory Firms on Salesforce CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce also drew fresh analysis pieces on its outlook and security posture, but these were commentary rather than hard new financial catalysts. Key Catalyst Behind Salesforce’s (CRM) Compelling Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Earlier coverage noted Salesforce had fallen more than the broader market in the prior session, reflecting lingering pressure before today’s rebound. Here's Why Salesforce (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays upgraded Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Trading Up 4.3%

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $170.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.96. The firm has a market cap of $134.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 0.88 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,286,909,000 after purchasing an additional 659,573 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

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.

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.