Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Short Interest Update

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 29,406,370 shares, a decrease of 36.7% from the July 15th total of 46,465,690 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 13,243,191 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 285.7% in the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce adoption is accelerating. Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surged 205%, suggesting rising customer usage and deeper integration of AI agents into its CRM platform. This supports the company’s efforts to remain competitive in enterprise AI. Will Agentforce Help Salesforce Stay Ahead in the Enterprise AI Race?
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce expanded Headless 360 across its portfolio, potentially giving customers more flexible ways to deploy Salesforce data and services across digital channels. Broader product integration could support retention, cross-selling and long-term platform value. Salesforce Expands Headless 360 Across Its Portfolio
• Positive Sentiment: Sector rotation and value interest are supporting CRM. Investors have been moving from semiconductor stocks into underperforming software names, while some analysts characterize Salesforce as attractively valued for long-term investors. Netflix, Salesforce, and Adobe Rally as Investors Rotate
• Neutral Sentiment: The upcoming August 26 earnings report is the next major catalyst. Salesforce recently exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue expectations, but investors will focus on forward guidance, Agentforce monetization and whether growth can reaccelerate. Salesforce Projected to Announce Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic exposure offers a potential strategic benefit. Salesforce has participated in Anthropic funding rounds and integrates Claude, giving CRM indirect exposure to the enterprise AI company’s reported growth and possible future valuation gains. The Pre-IPO Playbook: How to Cash in on Anthropic Before the Bell
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term earnings expectations remain a risk. Zacks said Salesforce lacks the combination of factors that typically supports a likely earnings beat, raising the possibility of disappointment if guidance or AI-related results fall short. Salesforce Earnings Expected to Grow
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst upgrades have not consistently translated into sustained gains. This keeps the stock dependent on tangible earnings evidence, particularly as investors question whether generative AI could weaken traditional software business models. Analyst upgrades keep failing Salesforce

Salesforce Stock Up 5.0%

Shares of CRM opened at $205.92 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.41. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $168.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce’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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 10.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie Infrastructure cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Monday, June 29th. HSBC lifted their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.49.

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.