Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Hits New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $235.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $176.50 and last traded at $176.3620, with a volume of 2448374 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $185.16.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. The trade was a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 4,282 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Cambient Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $508,000. Talisman Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Hamilton Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $241,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,659,329 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $439,573,000 after buying an additional 316,446 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $230.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.16%.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.