Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Falls 1.7% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell 1.7% to approximately $234.24 in mid-day trading, with volume 39% below the average. The stock remains below its recent analyst consensus price target of $275.14.
• Analysts remain broadly optimistic, citing Salesforce’s embedded customer base and AI initiatives such as Agentforce and the new AIforce platform; the stock carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating.
• AI execution and security are key risks: investors are questioning whether Salesforce’s AI products can materially accelerate growth, while researchers reported Agentforce vulnerabilities that could enable CRM data theft and AI-agent impersonation.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $233.38 and last traded at $234.2370. Approximately 8,481,933 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 13,970,411 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.22.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target, pointing to Salesforce’s deeply embedded customer base and the possibility that Agentforce could generate approximately $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue and help reaccelerate growth. Wells Fargo Raises Salesforce’s Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AIforce launch adds an open, provider-agnostic layer designed to connect Agentforce, Data Cloud 360, AWS and Google Cloud, strengthening the company’s positioning as an enterprise AI platform. Salesforce AIforce Layer
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary on Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic argues that the investment could provide strategic upside and optionality to help offset or retire debt associated with the company’s $25 billion share-repurchase program. Salesforce Anthropic Stake
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agents for Impact program highlights practical AI deployments in India’s social sector, supporting the broader adoption narrative for Agentforce. Agents for Impact
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed its buy rating, while bullish commentary emphasizes Salesforce’s data and customer relationships as strategic assets that AI developers may need. Why Investors Keep Buying Salesforce
• Neutral Sentiment: Post-earnings analysis notes that CRM has underperformed since its latest report, leaving investors focused on forward estimates and whether upcoming results can validate the AI growth strategy. Salesforce Post-Earnings Analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate analysis questions whether Salesforce’s AI products can generate meaningful revenue and accelerate growth enough to justify its recent valuation gains. What Is Salesforce No Longer Telling You?
• Neutral Sentiment: A Salesforce-versus-Zendesk comparison provides competitive context but does not identify a new company-specific catalyst. Salesforce vs. Zendesk Sell Comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Security researchers disclosed three Agentforce vulnerabilities reportedly enabling zero-click CRM data theft and AI-agent impersonation. The disclosures raise concerns about enterprise adoption, customer trust, remediation costs and potential reputational damage. Zero-Click Vulnerabilities in Salesforce Agentforce

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. DA Davidson set a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. KeyCorp downgraded Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $192.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $214.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. 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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 43,398 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,790,000 after purchasing an additional 4,618 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4,855.1% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 168,472 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $26,393,000 after purchasing an additional 165,072 shares during the last quarter. Security National Bank of Sioux City Iowa IA acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. Wellington Altus USA Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 117.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 315 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 184.5% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 11,663 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology and related enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data analytics and business operations through subscription-based software and cloud services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud and the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and artificial intelligence capabilities, including its Agentforce platform for building and deploying AI agents.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves businesses and organizations across a broad range of industries and geographic markets worldwide.

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