Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 1.6% – Here’s Why

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price dropped 1.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $181.71 and last traded at $182.7160. Approximately 11,077,088 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 13,438,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.66.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce said its Agentforce ARR is surging, suggesting renewed growth momentum and improving demand for its AI products. The company also looks cheaper on valuation after a steep year-to-date selloff, which may attract value-oriented investors. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter supports a shift toward usage-based AI pricing and could strengthen monetization of Agentforce and other AI offerings over time. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg reported that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion, highlighting the company’s exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforcing its strategic AI positioning. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce presented at the Mizuho Technology Conference, but no major new financial guidance or product surprise was highlighted in the article summary. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports pointed to layoffs, which can signal cost pressure or slower-than-expected productivity gains from AI initiatives, even if the cuts are intended to improve efficiency. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about AI competition pressuring CRM and the stock sliding despite an earnings beat suggest investors remain concerned about Salesforce’s ability to convert AI momentum into sustained share-price recovery. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.26.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.98. The stock has a market cap of $140.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.