Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Sets New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $185.73 and last traded at $193.89, with a volume of 12099432 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $191.35.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on CRM despite sector weakness; multiple broker notes and aggregate analyst bias continue to support a “moderate buy” view, giving upward support to the shares. Analysts stay constructive on Salesforce (CRM) despite sector weakness
• Positive Sentiment: Several market pieces argue AI fears are overblown and list Salesforce as a buy-on-the-dip candidate — framing the recent sell-off as sentiment-driven and highlighting CRM’s scale, recurring revenue, and AI integrations as recovery catalysts. AI Disruption Overblown! 4 Software Stocks to Buy on the Dip
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other value-screen articles flag CRM as attractive on valuation/score metrics, reinforcing the narrative that the pullback is creating a value entry point for longer-term investors. Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top-Ranked Value Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: New AI-focused startups are rolling out CRM-adjacent tools (Aurasell’s AI-native OS) that could alter go-to-market workflows — a potential long-term competitive variable but not an immediate earnings shock. Aurasell Launches World’s First AI-Native OS to Run Intelligent GTM Workflows on Any CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Inclusion on lists of software rebound candidates and mentions by large banks/analysts (e.g., Morgan Stanley lists) supports market attention; these are constructive but depend on broader sector sentiment stabilizing. These 5 Software Stocks Could Double in Price This Year, Says Morgan Stanley
• Negative Sentiment: Employee backlash after a reported joke about ICE and a petition demanding CEO Marc Benioff cut ties with ICE introduce reputational risk and internal distraction; over 1,400 employees signed a letter — this social governance issue is pressuring sentiment. Salesforce employees call on CEO Benioff to cancel ICE ‘opportunities’
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce is reshaping workforce and leadership as its AI push meets weak CRM returns point to near-term execution and cost-pressure concerns that can weigh on guidance and margins. Salesforce Reshapes Workforce And Leadership As AI Push Meets Weak CRM Returns
• Negative Sentiment: Recent sell-offs and sector-wide AI fears have driven sharp volatility; short-interest and downdrafts in software peers amplify downside risk until earnings/outlook clarity returns. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.57.

Salesforce Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $173.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $239.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.20.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,211,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.