Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $185.73 and last traded at $193.89, with a volume of 12099432 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $191.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CRM. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.57.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $242.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.55. The company has a market cap of $181.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents 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 link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 116.1% in the 4th quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. now owns 11,298 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 6,071 shares during the last quarter. Beckerman Institutional LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $278,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 96,236 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,494,000 after buying an additional 7,532 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 74,613 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $19,766,000 after acquiring an additional 9,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently 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.