Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 1% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded down 1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $223.30 and last traded at $225.53. 7,491,260 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 7,715,083 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.51.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $214.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $245.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 24.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total transaction of $31,598.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,085,096,889. This represents a 0.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 63,122 shares of company stock valued at $15,615,413 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 20.9% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 18,154 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,302,000 after purchasing an additional 3,138 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its stake in Salesforce by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 3,507 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after buying an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $434,000. Faithward Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $236,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 3,923 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.