Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 4.6% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell 4.6% in midday trading to about $231, with roughly 7.66 million shares changing hands—42% below average volume.
• Despite the decline, analysts maintain a generally positive outlook: Salesforce has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $278.98, supported by AI initiatives, revenue growth and strong cash generation.
• The company recently reported $5.90 in quarterly EPS, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion; Salesforce also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 4.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $225.04 and last traded at $231.0570. Approximately 7,664,010 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 13,270,587 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.11.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce continues to be viewed as a leading customer relationship management platform, with autonomous AI agents integrated across its software suite. The company’s strong free-cash-flow generation and continued revenue growth support its long-term investment case. Salesforce vs. Datadog: Which Technology Stock Is a Better Buy in 2026?
• Positive Sentiment: A market analysis modestly increased Salesforce’s fair-value estimate as views on its AI strategy and Braze-related opportunities evolved, suggesting some analysts see additional upside from AI monetization and customer engagement products. Salesforce Stock Sees Modest Fair Value Lift
• Positive Sentiment: Navatar announced Claude-powered recommendations and workflow actions for private-equity and M&A users built on Salesforce, providing another example of third-party AI functionality expanding the platform’s ecosystem. Navatar Brings Claude-Powered Recommendations and Actions to CRM

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, October 12th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Trading Down 4.6%

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $237.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $199.18. The firm has a market cap of $190.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a $0.44 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 16.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Latitude Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC lifted 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $610,974,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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