Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 2.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares 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. Approximately 6,495,060 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 13,151,128 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.20.

CRM has been the topic of several other research reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 12th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.98.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 7.3% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 11,586 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Salesforce by 34.0% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 52,367 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,022,000 after acquiring an additional 13,278 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 11.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,288,199 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $984,442,000 after acquiring an additional 455,946 shares in the last quarter. Altar Rock LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $207,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,720.9% in the third quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 32,394 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,437,000 after acquiring an additional 30,615 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Price Performance

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

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

About Salesforce

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.