Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Falls 2.2% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell 2.2% to about $229.62 in midday trading, though the stock remains above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $275.14, implying upside from the trading price.
• Salesforce recently exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $5.90 in EPS and $11.35 billion in revenue, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) shares fell 2.2% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $227.81 and last traded at $229.6240. Approximately 6,360,388 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 13,849,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at $234.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $236.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $222.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.78. The company has a market cap of $188.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% during the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.

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