Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 2% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) dropped 2% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $220.08 and last traded at $222.6650. Approximately 8,106,787 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 13,116,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.11.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is reportedly planning to acquire Cresta, a provider of AI voice-agent technology. The deal could extend Salesforce’s AI capabilities in customer service, though its financial and integration implications are not yet clear. Salesforce bets on AI voice agents with planned Cresta acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Salesforce to Strong Buy, citing improving earnings prospects. Analysts’ average price target implies potential upside, although price targets are not reliable predictors by themselves. Salesforce Moves to Strong Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: A comparison with ServiceNow highlights investor uncertainty over whether agentic AI will translate into growth, despite both companies’ positioning in the market. Salesforce Vs. ServiceNow
• Negative Sentiment: S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A from A+, citing rising acquisition-related debt and a $25 billion debt-financed buyback. The agency said pro forma net debt-to-EBITDA exceeded its prior downgrade threshold, raising concerns about capital allocation and financial flexibility. S&P cuts Salesforce to A on rising acquisition debt and buybacks

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $239.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.69.

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. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $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, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Silver Grove Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Grove Financial Group Inc. now owns 687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Northbridge Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the third quarter. Northbridge Financial Group LLC now owns 7,341 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,829,000. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.6% during the third quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 4,493 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,031,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.8% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 13,683 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,141,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.