Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Falls 4.6% – Should You Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price was down 4.6% on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $225.04 and last traded at $231.0570. Approximately 7,664,010 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 13,270,587 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.11.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rune Technologies, a defense-technology company. The deal supports Salesforce’s push into military and government applications, potentially expanding its addressable market and adding a specialized technology platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Rune Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: TPM Holdings completed an 18-month realignment centered on Salesforce CRM and artificial intelligence for the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Its combination of TrebleHook and The Hunley Group could expand Salesforce-based implementations and demonstrate growing demand for industry-specific AI tools. TPM Holdings Accelerates Investment in AI and Salesforce CRM
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst and investment articles describe Salesforce as a potential AI rebound candidate, citing autonomous AI agents, improving monetization, strong free cash flow and its leadership in customer relationship management. These views may support longer-term sentiment, although they are not new company guidance. AI Comeback Story Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s earnings report is approaching, making upcoming revenue growth, AI adoption, margins and forward guidance the main near-term catalysts. The company’s latest reported quarter included revenue of $11.35 billion and adjusted earnings that exceeded consensus estimates. Salesforce Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce declined in sympathy with ServiceNow, Fortinet and other software stocks after investors focused on slower contracted-revenue growth despite earnings beats and higher AI targets. The reaction has renewed concerns about enterprise-software demand, AI monetization timelines and elevated sector valuations. ServiceNow Results Dent Software Stocks

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

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

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 19.1% in the third quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 392 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 915 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 8.4% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 19,601 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 23.6% during the third quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,027 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC now owns 197 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.