Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 3.1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded down 3.1% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $167.12 and last traded at $170.8240. 16,309,234 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 27% from the average session volume of 12,861,133 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.1%

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $157.67 billion, a PE ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 924.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.