Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 1% – Here’s Why

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) dropped 1% during trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $227.68 and last traded at $228.56. Approximately 7,811,125 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 13,244,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $230.90.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rune Technologies, a defense-technology company. The deal supports Salesforce’s push into military and government applications, potentially expanding its addressable market and adding a specialized technology platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Rune Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: TPM Holdings completed an 18-month realignment centered on Salesforce CRM and artificial intelligence for the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Its combination of TrebleHook and The Hunley Group could expand Salesforce-based implementations and demonstrate growing demand for industry-specific AI tools. TPM Holdings Accelerates Investment in AI and Salesforce CRM
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst and investment articles describe Salesforce as a potential AI rebound candidate, citing autonomous AI agents, improving monetization, strong free cash flow and its leadership in customer relationship management. These views may support longer-term sentiment, although they are not new company guidance. AI Comeback Story Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s earnings report is approaching, making upcoming revenue growth, AI adoption, margins and forward guidance the main near-term catalysts. The company’s latest reported quarter included revenue of $11.35 billion and adjusted earnings that exceeded consensus estimates. Salesforce Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce declined in sympathy with ServiceNow, Fortinet and other software stocks after investors focused on slower contracted-revenue growth despite earnings beats and higher AI targets. The reaction has renewed concerns about enterprise-software demand, AI monetization timelines and elevated sector valuations. ServiceNow Results Dent Software Stocks

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Performance

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 50 day moving average of $238.48 and a 200 day moving average of $199.04. The firm has a market cap of $188.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Salesforce by 130.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 28.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,724,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,188,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,561,923 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.