Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $189.80, but opened at $177.56. Salesforce shares last traded at $172.9020, with a volume of 4,391,746 shares changing hands.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Google Cloud partnership lets AI agents execute end-to-end workflows across Slack, Google Workspace and Salesforce — this materially improves product stickiness and cross-platform customer value. Salesforce and Google Cloud Enable AI Agents…
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce shows rapid adoption (Agentforce ARR and agentic actions growth cited by analysts), supporting Salesforce’s pivot to usage-based AI pricing — a potential revenue accelerator if usage scales. Salesforce: AI Is A True Acceleration Driver…
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of a possible $25B buyback and upbeat analyst commentary have boosted sentiment by signaling management focus on shareholder returns and capital allocation. Salesforce (CRM) Stock: Google Partnership, $25B Buyback…
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons with rivals (Oracle, Adobe) and coverage calling CRM a momentum/valuation play create mixed analyst signals — useful context but no single decisive catalyst. Head-To-Head Comparison: Oracle versus Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler cut its price target (from $250 to $215) while keeping an Overweight rating, citing rising AI competition in enterprise software — this raises near-term estimates risk and can pressure sentiment. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) PT Reduced…
• Negative Sentiment: Investor letters and coverage note AI-disruption fears that weighed on Q1, underscoring that competitive dynamics and execution on new pricing models remain risk factors. AI Disruption Fears Pressured Salesforce in Q1
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile bullish mentions (Jim Cramer saying he wouldn’t sell; reports Michael Burry is buying) can stabilize investor psychology and attract value-oriented buyers. Jim Cramer on Salesforce…
• Negative Sentiment: Reminders of last year’s big drawdown (articles recounting the 30% plunge) keep risk awareness high; even with bullish medium-term forecasts, some investors remain cautious about near-term volatility. Salesforce (CRM) Plunges 30% in 2025…

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $141.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.9% in the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 961 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.