Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Up 3.7% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Shares rose 3.7% to about $177.64 on Wednesday with roughly 13.27M shares traded, slightly above average volume.
• Salesforce reported a strong quarter—$3.81 EPS vs. $3.05 expected and revenue of $11.20B (up 12.1% y/y)—and set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.11–13.19.
• The company boosted shareholder returns with a quarterly dividend raised to $0.44 (1.0% yield) and a $25B buyback authorization, while analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $279.18 price target.

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) were up 3.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $179.62 and last traded at $177.6430. Approximately 13,266,591 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 2% from the average daily volume of 13,001,804 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.7%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $188.65 and a 200 day moving average of $225.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th 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 lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 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.

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