Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.3% – What’s Next?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price traded down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $222.89 and last traded at $224.5220. 7,278,009 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 13,818,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CRM shares. HC Wainwright cut Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $289.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 18th. Three investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $223.15 and a 200 day moving average of $192.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Iowa State Bank grew its stake in Salesforce by 2.4% during the third quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 19,538 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,485,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Kennon Green & Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,543,000. Adelphi Trust Co boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Adelphi Trust Co now owns 3,903 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Salesforce by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 6,213 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners purchased a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.