Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 3.9% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell 3.9% to about $249, with trading volume roughly 9% above average. Despite the decline, the stock remains above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $266.50, though recent recommendations range from a $166 target and “Hold” rating to a $300 target and “Overweight” rating.
• Salesforce exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $5.90 in EPS versus $3.27 expected and $11.35 billion in revenue. The company also declared a $0.44 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 0.7% annualized yield.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was down 3.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $245.89 and last traded at $249.0250. Approximately 15,307,202 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 14,075,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Phillip Securities lowered Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Wedbush initiated coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $266.50.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $204.95 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.20.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $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, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors 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 yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $181,143,000 after buying an additional 24,332 shares in the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Salesforce by 82.7% during the fourth quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,608,000 after acquiring an additional 7,871 shares during the period. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter worth $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the first quarter worth $40,945,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,846,000 after acquiring an additional 3,125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.

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