Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $193.11 and last traded at $196.1260, with a volume of 20176845 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $210.81.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.57.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on CRM

Salesforce Price 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $245.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.77 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.41 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.4% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,207,190 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $523,104,000 after buying an additional 51,492 shares during the period. Harvey Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 17.7% during the third quarter. Harvey Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,731,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 87,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,387 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Salesforce

(Get Free Report)

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.

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