Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Hits New 1-Year Low - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Salesforce hit a new 52-week low, trading as low as $160.50 after closing at $164.55 the prior day, underscoring recent pressure on CRM shares.
• Despite the stock slump, the company is drawing attention for its AI expansion, including the planned acquisition of Fin to bolster its agentic AI and customer-service automation offerings.
• Wall Street remains mostly constructive, with several analysts maintaining buy ratings and price targets well above current levels, while Salesforce also points to strong cash generation, a $25 billion buyback authorization and a quarterly dividend.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $160.50 and last traded at $161.7430, with a volume of 16366493 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $164.55.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is deepening its push into agentic AI by acquiring Fin, an AI customer-service platform that handles queries across chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone and Slack. Investors are viewing the deal as a strategic step that could strengthen Salesforce’s position in the fast-growing AI automation market. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at firms including Wedbush, Canaccord Genuity and Needham reaffirmed bullish views, with price targets well above the current share price, suggesting Wall Street sees meaningful upside if Salesforce’s AI strategy gains traction. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Salesforce’s strong cash generation, rising margins and a $50 billion buyback plan is supporting the investment case by highlighting its ability to fund acquisitions while still returning capital to shareholders. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush said the Fin purchase shows Salesforce is moving faster than expected to secure the AI agent market, but investors are still waiting to see whether these acquisitions translate into faster revenue growth and better returns. Proactive Investors article
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage is focusing on Salesforce’s steep share-price decline over the past year and the concern that its acquisition-heavy strategy has not yet restored investor confidence, keeping pressure on CRM stock. Invezz article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.26.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $132.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.16. The company's 50-day moving average price is $179.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $181,143,000 after buying an additional 24,332 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 50.0% in the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 116,874 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $27,699,000 after acquiring an additional 38,963 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,608,000 after acquiring an additional 7,871 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,299,513 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $307,984,000 after acquiring an additional 106,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,328,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,025,791,000 after acquiring an additional 101,191 shares during the last quarter. 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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