Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 7% – Should You Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was down 7% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $193.11 and last traded at $196.1260. Approximately 20,110,377 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 101% from the average daily volume of 10,023,729 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.81.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce reportedly won a large Army cloud deal worth $5.6 billion, a material contract that supports longer‑term revenue visibility for its GovCloud and AI offerings. Salesforce (CRM) Wins $5.6 Billion Army Deal, Citizens Stays Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlights Salesforce extending its AI reach via the Army deal plus a “Wildfire” AI initiative — strategic wins that could accelerate AI‑driven services and upsell opportunities. Salesforce Extends AI Reach With Army Deal And Wildfire Initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators note AI adoption inside Salesforce is surging; Seeking Alpha frames current revenue lag as a near‑term opportunity if monetization of AI accelerates. This supports a constructive medium‑term thesis. Salesforce: AI Adoption Is Surging – The Revenue Lag Is The Opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Technical/quant coverage (Zacks) says CRM is in oversold territory and consensus EPS revisions are moving up — factors that can trigger a short‑term technical rebound. After Plunging 17.7% in 4 Weeks, Here’s Why the Trend Might Reverse for Salesforce.com (CRM)
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerage consensus remains supportive (average “Moderate Buy”), indicating Wall Street still favors the stock on a 12‑ to 24‑month horizon despite recent misses. Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer praises Salesforce as “really great” but says the market has priced its execution concerns — useful context for sentiment but not a catalyst by itself. Jim Cramer Says Salesforce is “Really Great” But He Accepts the Market’s Judgment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recap pieces (Sohu) summarize Salesforce’s recent performance and Cramer commentary — useful for retail investors but mostly aggregate public points rather than new catalysts. Salesforce Stock: Recent Performance Snapshot and Future Opportunities
• Negative Sentiment: Critical pieces question downside risk and how low CRM can go after missed revenue growth; these narratives can keep selling pressure elevated until growth stabilizes. How Low Can Salesforce Stock Go?

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.57.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $246.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $247.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.19, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. 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 fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought 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 owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 3.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 30.9% during the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 11,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,009,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares in the last quarter. 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.