Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 1.9% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price fell 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $257.82 and last traded at $259.39. 10,332,259 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 14,082,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at $264.43.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI growth is accelerating: Salesforce reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $11.345 billion, up 11% year over year. Combined Agentforce and Data 360 annual recurring revenue rose more than 210% to nearly $3.9 billion, while Agentforce ARR surpassed $1.5 billion after growing more than 240%. Salesforce Grew Agentforce and Data 360 ARR More Than 200%
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic partnership strengthens the AI narrative: The Claudeforce collaboration, which combines Anthropic’s Claude models with Salesforce’s CRM platform, is being viewed as a potential source of new enterprise customers and revenue. Analysts argue the deal helps counter concerns that generative AI could disrupt traditional software providers. Salesforce May Have Found an Answer to the AI Disruption Threat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its Salesforce price target to $300, while BTIG reaffirmed a Buy rating and said business trends are improving. These calls support the view that the recent earnings momentum can continue. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Salesforce Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend declared: Salesforce’s board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, payable October 8 to shareholders of record September 17. The approximately 0.7% yield adds shareholder support but is unlikely to materially change the stock’s growth-driven valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and technical risks are elevated: Salesforce has become one of the strongest-performing technology stocks since June, and commentary describes CRM as overbought after its earnings-driven advance. Investors may therefore be taking profits or waiting for a pullback despite the favorable fundamentals. Salesforce Could Still Go Higher Despite Being Overbought
• Negative Sentiment: Macro pressure is a headwind: Concerns that strong economic data could delay or reverse expected Federal Reserve easing have weighed on software valuations broadly, creating pressure even for companies with strong earnings and AI growth.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler downgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.50.

Salesforce Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $189.85 and a 200 day moving average of $184.47. The stock has a market cap of $213.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13,260.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 188,085,056 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,465,405,000 after buying an additional 186,677,290 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,396,844,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,914,086,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,182,951,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.