Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 4.2% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price was down 4.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $252.48 and last traded at $253.6810. Approximately 9,663,989 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 7,663,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $264.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Capmk lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.68.

Salesforce Stock Down 4.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $237.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total value of $31,598.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,085,096,889. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 161,784 shares of company stock worth $38,357,182. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 27,361.5% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $933,737,000 after buying an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $484,852,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1,729.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $538,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,297 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.