Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.1% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price dropped 2.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $260.41 and last traded at $260.5410. Approximately 5,234,313 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 6,635,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $266.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.74.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $250.25 and a 200 day moving average of $251.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.13 billion, a PE ratio of 34.79, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.26. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total transaction of $580,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,567,632.20. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 157,284 shares of company stock worth $37,274,684 in the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goodman Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 53,398 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $14,146,000 after buying an additional 1,867 shares during the period. Norway Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 11,804 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,127,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 167.0% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 259 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.