Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $250.54, but opened at $244.18. Salesforce shares last traded at $242.4950, with a volume of 3,800,190 shares trading hands.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce set a fiscal 2030 revenue target of more than $63 billion, above market expectations. Management said artificial intelligence, data products and higher customer spending should support long-term growth and help counter fears that AI could disrupt its core software business. Salesforce issues revenue target of over $63 billion for fiscal 2030
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms raised their price targets, including Stifel, Canaccord Genuity, BMO Capital Markets, Citizens JMP, Stephens and Wells Fargo. Targets generally range from $250 to $315, reflecting optimism that Agentforce and other AI products can accelerate revenue and customer expansion. Six Analysts Turn Bullish on Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas described business activity as improving, while Salesforce’s broader AIforce strategy connects CRM data with partners including Google Cloud, Anthropic, Nvidia and Snap. These relationships could increase Agentforce usage and strengthen Salesforce’s enterprise ecosystem.
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce unveiled Koa, its first internally developed AI model for CRM reasoning, and AIforce, a platform intended to make CRM data available across multiple applications. However, Koa is not yet broadly available, limiting its immediate effect on revenue or earnings. Why Salesforce’s Homegrown AI Model Won’t Move the Stock Until 2027
• Negative Sentiment: UBS said AIforce could drive usage but cautioned that its pricing is currently too high. Investors therefore remain uncertain whether Agentforce adoption will translate into substantial incremental revenue and acceptable customer returns. Salesforce’s AIforce Offering has Potential to Drive Usage but Price Point is Too High
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has rallied sharply toward its 52-week high, so investors may be taking profits while waiting for proof of near-term AI monetization. A recent system outage and mixed partner feedback on pricing add to execution concerns. Why Salesforce Stock Dropped Despite Analysts Boosting Targets

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Scotiabank cut shares of Salesforce from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $275.14.

Salesforce Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $208.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $195.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.20.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Security National Bank of Sioux City Iowa IA bought a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $52,000. Wellington Altus USA Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 117.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 315 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 184.5% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,663 shares during the last quarter. Marathon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marathon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,267 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,332,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology and related enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data analytics and business operations through subscription-based software and cloud services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud and the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and artificial intelligence capabilities, including its Agentforce platform for building and deploying AI agents.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves businesses and organizations across a broad range of industries and geographic markets worldwide.