Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 3.7% on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was up 3.7% during trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $192.60 and last traded at $192.1910. Approximately 20,147,353 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 67% from the average daily volume of 12,056,347 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.42.

The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $2.78 EPS. 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Salesforce News Summary

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 Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after purchasing an additional 659,573 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,751,073,000 after buying an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $186.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $225.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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.