Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.2% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price traded down 2.2% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $227.81 and last traded at $229.6240. Approximately 6,360,388 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 13,849,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at $234.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 18th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $222.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Adelphi Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% in the third quarter. Adelphi Trust Co now owns 3,903 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $896,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 6,213 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Polaris Financial Partners bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. CX Institutional grew its position in Salesforce by 0.9% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 52,240 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,993,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Salesforce by 2.8% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,746 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.