Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.5% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price traded down 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $176.88 and last traded at $181.67. 12,339,049 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 12,919,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.34.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Operations, a new tool designed to automate complex enterprise workflows, and rising adoption of its Agentforce AI platform is helping reinforce the company’s AI growth story. Salesforce AI Shift Agentforce Operations Links Product Adoption To Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is also bringing Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, which could expand the reach of its AI-driven CRM tools and support adoption with enterprise customers.
• Positive Sentiment: A new revenue reporting structure beginning in FY27 is intended to align disclosures more closely with Salesforce’s AI-led strategy, potentially making it easier for investors to track how AI products are contributing to growth. Salesforce Inc’s (CRM) New Reporting Structure To Give Better Insights Into AI Driven Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party coverage continues to frame CRM as an AI and big-data beneficiary, with analysts highlighting Salesforce as a play on surging analytics demand and enterprise AI adoption. Top Big Data Stocks Powering the AI Boom as Analytics Demand Surges
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compare Salesforce with HubSpot and discuss its competitive position in CRM, but these pieces are more strategic than immediately market-moving.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also raises a leadership succession question around Marc Benioff, which could create some overhang if investors become more focused on long-term governance and continuity risk. Beyond Benioff: Is Salesforce Ready for Life Without Its Founder?
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has also been reported as falling in recent trading, suggesting investors may still be cautious despite the company’s AI initiatives.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $148.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $218.91.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. 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.