Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 3.1% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Salesforce shares fell 3.1% to about $170.82 Thursday (intraday low $167.12) on volume of ~16.3M shares, 27% above average, while analysts trimmed price targets; the Street still holds a consensus of Moderate Buy with an average target of $280.21.
• The company beat estimates with $3.81 EPS vs. $3.05 expected and $11.20B revenue, set FY‑2027 EPS guidance of 13.11–13.19, and simultaneously raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 and authorized a $25 billion share buyback (about 14.1% of shares).

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 3.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $167.12 and last traded at $170.8240. Approximately 16,309,234 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 27% from the average daily volume of 12,861,133 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho cut their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.44. The company has a market cap of $157.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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