Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Cross Below 50-Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell below their 50-day moving average, trading as low as $225.04 versus the $238.48 average, amid broader weakness in enterprise software stocks.
• The company’s fundamentals and AI outlook remain supportive: latest-quarter revenue rose 10.8%, free cash flow reached $14.4 billion for fiscal 2026, and planned usage-based AI-agent pricing could create a new revenue stream.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with Salesforce carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $278.98, despite concerns about sector-wide growth durability.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) shares passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $238.48 and traded as low as $225.04. Salesforce shares last traded at $231.0570, with a volume of 7,673,555 shares.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI monetization could improve. Salesforce plans to introduce usage-based pricing for AI-agent calls in November, potentially creating a new revenue stream beyond seat-based subscriptions. Its Agent Fabric upgrades are also designed to improve testing, evaluation and cost controls for customers. Salesforce Brings In Usage Based AI Billing With New Agent Fabric Controls
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s growth and cash generation remain investor positives. The company generated $14.4 billion in free cash flow during fiscal 2026, grew revenue about 11% in its latest quarter, and continues to integrate autonomous AI agents into its CRM platform. Salesforce vs. Datadog
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party adoption supports the AI ecosystem. Navatar is adding Claude-powered recommendations and workflow actions to its private-equity and M&A software built on Salesforce, highlighting expanding use cases for AI on the platform. Navatar Brings Claude-Powered Recommendations and Actions to CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation estimates received a modest lift. Updated views on Salesforce’s AI opportunity and its Braze relationship raised fair-value estimates, but the limited increase was not enough to overcome broader sector concerns. Salesforce Stock Sees Modest Fair Value Lift
• Negative Sentiment: Enterprise-software sentiment deteriorated. ServiceNow’s sharp decline after providing a slower contracted-revenue outlook, along with weakness in Fortinet and other software stocks, triggered sympathy selling in Salesforce and raised concerns about sector-wide growth durability. ServiceNow Tumbles as Slower Contract Growth Pressures Software Stocks

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim raised their target price on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, October 12th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Price Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average is $238.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $199.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% during the third quarter. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV now owns 6,422 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.6% in the third quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 3,396 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,700 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,549 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.