Short Interest in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Expands By 240.2%

Key Points

• Short interest surged 240.2% — short interest climbed to 77,814,603 shares as of March 31 (8.7% of shares short) from 22,873,808 on March 15, producing a days‑to‑cover ratio of 6.1.
• Board authorized a $25 billion buyback and raised the dividend, approving repurchases of up to 14.1% of outstanding shares and increasing the quarterly payout to $0.44 (1.1% yield), signaling management confidence.
• Mixed market signals: insiders bought while analysts remain cautious — two directors purchased ~2,570 shares each near $194.60, the company beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, yet the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $280.21 after recent price‑target cuts.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 77,814,603 shares, a growth of 240.2% from the March 15th total of 22,873,808 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 12,752,004 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days. Currently, 8.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $280.21.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong underlying fundamentals: recent coverage highlights Salesforce's trailing‑12‑month revenue (~$41.5B), solid profitability (77.6% gross margin, ~13.9% profit margin), nearly $15B operating cash flow and $7.8 diluted EPS — all arguments that the company’s core business can justify a higher multiple over time. Salesforce Stock Is Dropping Today: What's Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Ecosystem wins / product integrations: Redpanda’s new real‑time, bidirectional connectors to Salesforce position CRM more as a central data hub — a feature that can increase platform stickiness and justify long‑term value capture. Salesforce Connectors From Redpanda Put Focus On CRM Valuation Gap
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity signaling volatility: recent options flow has drawn attention — heightened options interest can presage larger moves (up or down) around earnings, product news or macro catalysts but is not a directional confirmation on its own. Is the Options Market Predicting a Spike in Salesforce Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation debate / buy/hold view: some analysts note CRM is down sharply YTD (~35%) and argue the pullback plus ongoing AI adoption and improving growth make it a hold at current prices — this frames the decline as a potential buying opportunity for longer‑term investors. Salesforce Plunges 35% YTD: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Sector shock from new AI models: reports about Anthropic’s latest model and broader headlines have sparked a selloff across software stocks, pressuring CRM as investors rotate toward AI infrastructure and hardware beneficiaries. Anthropic's Latest AI Model Sends a Shockwave Through Software Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/strategy commentary: high‑profile commentary (e.g., Jim Cramer) indicates a renewed “buy hardware, sell software” rotation, which can keep downward pressure on valuation multiples for large software vendors like Salesforce. Cramer explains the divergence in tech stocks – and why software may continue to lag
• Negative Sentiment: Stock price technical and momentum concerns: coverage noting three‑year lows and a steep YTD decline highlight momentum weakness that can perpetuate selling until clearer positive catalysts emerge. Salesforce stock just crashed to 3-year lows; Here's why
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/product signals: items about alternatives (e.g., Slackbot as a CRM interface) and specialized Salesforce‑based solutions could be read as both ecosystem expansion and potential competitive friction for certain use cases. Slack instead of Salesforce: Slackbot becomes CRM interface

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM traded down $5.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $164.99. The stock had a trading volume of 18,072,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,611,750. The business has a fifty day moving average of $189.91 and a 200 day moving average of $226.46. 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 firm has a market cap of $152.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous 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. Equities analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

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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