Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 4% Following Earnings Beat

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) were up 4% during trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $201.04 and last traded at $199.38. Approximately 26,082,087 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 108% from the average daily volume of 12,516,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.75.

The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue 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.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results showed a big non‑GAAP EPS beat and double‑digit revenue growth, with Agentforce cited as a key growth driver — the earnings strength is the main bullish catalyst. Salesforce Crushed Earnings by 25% and Still Can’t Get Any Respect
• Positive Sentiment: Management authorized a $50 billion buyback, raised FY30 revenue ambition to ~$63B and increased the quarterly dividend — these capital‑return moves support EPS per‑share upside and signal confidence from the board. Salesforce targets $63B revenue by FY30 while expanding Agentforce and $50B buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Some brokers (e.g., Wedbush) reiterated bullish views and called CRM a long‑term AI winner, supporting a recovery narrative despite the recent sell‑off. Salesforce Stock Climbs After Earnings. Wedbush Calls It ‘Long-Term Winner’ of the AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street reacted with many price‑target resets — several firms trimmed targets but maintained Buy/Overweight ratings, leaving consensus upside but also a wider target dispersion to watch. Salesforce’s AI Bet Is Paying Off—the Buyback Proves It
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue outlook/near‑term guidance was viewed as soft by some investors — the quarter’s guidance cadence (mid‑year weakness) pressured shares in after‑hours trading. Salesforce tops Q4 estimates but softer revenue guidance pressures shares
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts flagged mixed cloud momentum and cautioned on a near‑term growth slowdown even as AI adoption builds — raises the risk of cyclical softness before the AI inflection fully materializes. Salesforce faces near-term growth slowdown as AI inflection builds, Jefferies says
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms cut price targets (examples include Sanford Bernstein’s move to Underperform and multiple downward adjustments across banks), which can cap near‑term upside until guidance clarity improves. Analyst price target updates

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. BTIG Research cut their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given 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, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.06.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 4,837 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,281,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. TD Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 89.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 212 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Tempo Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $1,134,000. Thryve Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $446,000. Finally, MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $6,495,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $186.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $225.28 and a 200-day moving average of $238.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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.