Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 4.9% – Here’s Why

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was down 4.9% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $188.79 and last traded at $189.7230. Approximately 21,790,601 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 97% from the average daily volume of 11,045,575 shares. The stock had previously closed at $199.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Mizuho set a $340.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.57.

Salesforce Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $179.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $243.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.35.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.