Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Climb 2.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price shot up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $234.36 and last traded at $227.2190. 6,495,060 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 13,151,128 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.20.

CRM has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. CLSA began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s planned acquisition of AI voice-agent company Cresta could strengthen Agentforce and Service Cloud, adding capabilities for customer-service automation. The deal also brings acquisition costs and execution risks. Article: Salesforce Bets on AI Voice Agents With Planned Cresta Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Salesforce from “hold” to “strong buy,” a favorable analyst signal that may help counter near-term concerns. Article: Zacks Research rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding its Coworker offering and promoting a 21-times growth claim, but the report notes that no baseline is provided, making the figure difficult to assess. Article: Salesforce Expands Coworker’s Reach, but Its 21× Growth Claim Has No Baseline
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is extending Agent Fabric to help businesses manage AI agents across platforms. Its large customer base and reported 1.2 billion daily requests suggest potential, but investors still need evidence that the AI activity will translate into meaningful revenue. Article: Salesforce Stock: The 1 Number Investors Still Need to See
• Negative Sentiment: A broader software sell-off is weighing on CRM, while S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A from A+. S&P cited acquisition spending and a $25 billion debt-financed buyback, which lifted pro forma net debt relative to EBITDA above its previous downgrade threshold. The rating action raises concerns about leverage and aggressive capital allocation. Article: S&P cuts Salesforce to A on rising acquisition debt and buybacks

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 7.3% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 11,586 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 52,367 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,022,000 after buying an additional 13,278 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,288,199 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $984,442,000 after buying an additional 455,946 shares during the last quarter. Altar Rock LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $207,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1,720.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 32,394 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,437,000 after buying an additional 30,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $239.53 and its 200 day moving average is $198.64. The stock has a market cap of $176.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce.

The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce’s products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.

Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and other co-founders, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco.