Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Up 1.2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares rose 1.2% to about $186.20 in midday trading, although volume was 17% below the average session level.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $249.51 average price target; ratings range from Sell to Strong Buy.
• Salesforce recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.88 in EPS and $11.13 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 13.3% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44, equal to a 0.9% annualized yield.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 1.2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $193.70 and last traded at $186.1970. Approximately 11,520,115 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 13,840,349 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Salesforce from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $185.00 price objective (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $152.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's fifty day moving average is $170.34 and its 200 day moving average is $184.49.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently 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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