Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 4.2% – Here’s Why

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) dropped 4.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $252.48 and last traded at $253.6810. Approximately 9,663,989 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 7,663,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $264.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.68.

Salesforce Stock Down 4.2%

The stock has a market cap of $237.70 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $249.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th will be given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. The trade was a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.04, for a total value of $567,090.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,002,192,354.84. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 161,784 shares of company stock worth $38,357,182. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Painted Porch Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 260.0% during the second quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 314.8% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 383.3% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.