Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was down 1.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $192.10 and last traded at $193.15. Approximately 11,459,254 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 12,553,317 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.05.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Evercore dropped their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.14.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5%

The company has a market cap of $180.98 billion, a PE ratio of 24.73, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $221.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $237.77.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Rockland Trust Co. grew its position in Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.