Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 98,506 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 21% compared to the typical daily volume of 81,416 call options.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat Q1 expectations on both earnings and revenue, with EPS of $3.88 versus estimates around $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13% year over year. The company also said Agentforce annualized revenue topped $1 billion, reinforcing the growth narrative around its AI products.
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised FY2027 revenue guidance to $45.9 billion-$46.2 billion and boosted profit outlook, which suggests confidence in the business model and continued AI-driven demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase plan and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, both of which signal strong cash generation and a commitment to returning capital to shareholders. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced an expanded collaboration with CVS Health using Agentforce Health, highlighting real-world adoption of Salesforce’s AI tools. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce presented at the Jefferies Software, Internet & AI Conference, keeping investor focus on the company’s AI strategy and execution. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analysts updated targets after earnings, with many still constructive, but the range of views reflects debate over whether AI agents will accelerate Salesforce’s growth or pressure its core software business.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warned that Salesforce has an “AI problem,” arguing the market remains unconvinced that its AI strategy is enough to offset competitive threats from new AI-native platforms.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term guidance was a bit softer than the most optimistic expectations, especially for Q2 revenue, which has kept the stock reaction somewhat restrained despite the earnings beat.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock traded up $16.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $192.46. 10,778,291 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,012,245. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $180.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $210.72. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $276.80. 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 issued 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CRM. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.47.

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.