Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 3.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price shot up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $186.39 and last traded at $185.0210. 11,513,838 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 12,800,511 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.31.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce accelerated a $25 billion share buyback, signaling strong cash generation and management confidence—this supports EPS and is prompting analyst upgrades (BNP Paribas Exane raised its PT). Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI product Agentforce reported 169% ARR growth and 29,000 deals — plus Data Cloud/360 momentum — which should drive recurring revenue expansion and longer-term growth expectations. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BTIG reaffirmed a “buy” on CRM and assigned a $255 price target, reflecting bullish analyst sentiment and substantial upside from current levels. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Marc Benioff reiterated that Slack revenue could reach ~$3 billion this year, underscoring the integration and monetization upside from Slack. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Slackbot received a major AI update (30 new features), improving Slack’s positioning as an enterprise work assistant and potentially accelerating adoption and ARPU in collaboration revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Solutions by Text launched a compliance-focused omnichannel integration with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which expands vertical use cases (financial services) but is incremental to core revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Informational pieces on CRM’s stock-split history and broad software sector commentary are background context for investors but unlikely to change near-term fundamentals. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism is present: Eric Jackson publicly disclosed short positions in Salesforce and other software names, citing an “AI Paradox” thesis — this increases downside risk and can pressure shares if shorts expand. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Arete Research upgraded Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $196.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.82. The company has a market capitalization of $171.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.