Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $221.57 and last traded at $221.5230, with a volume of 7993314 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $227.11.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, January 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $249.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $250.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total transaction of $31,598.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,085,096,889. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the purchase, the director 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 149,927 shares of company stock valued at $35,448,144. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Painted Porch Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 260.0% during the second quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.