Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares dropped 1.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $184.83 and last traded at $185.8520. Approximately 12,962,471 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 13,458,130 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.75.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given 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 a consensus target price of $257.97.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $181.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.90. The firm has a market cap of $152.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth 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.