Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 2.9% – What’s Next?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded down 2.9% on Monday. The company traded as low as $221.18 and last traded at $227.1710. 10,249,747 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 13,953,851 shares. The stock had previously closed at $234.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.7%

The firm has a market cap of $185.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $217.69 and a 200-day moving average of $191.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its position in Salesforce by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $181,143,000 after purchasing an additional 24,332 shares in the last quarter. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at $1,004,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.