Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Falls 2.3% – Should You Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price fell 2.3% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $237.26 and last traded at $241.0050. Approximately 8,217,122 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 13,549,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $246.74.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI product expansion could support growth. Salesforce launched Hunter, an AI-powered outbound sales agent within Agentforce, with ZoomInfo and Demandbase providing prospect data and an expanded DocuSign partnership supporting agreement workflows. These integrations could increase customer usage of Salesforce’s higher-value products. Salesforce Unveils Hunter For AI Powered Outbound Sales
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and acquisitions provide a counterpoint to the selloff. Bank of America reportedly upgraded Salesforce from Underperform to Buy, citing changes in AI product pricing and a small AI acquisition. Salesforce’s acquisition of Loops is also being viewed as an effort to strengthen its AI capabilities and revive growth. Salesforce Just Got a Rare Double Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention is high, but searches are not a fundamental catalyst. Salesforce was among the most heavily searched stocks on Zacks, increasing visibility but offering little direct evidence of changing revenue, earnings or customer demand. Investors Heavily Search Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: AI financing and valuation concerns are weighing on the entire sector. Enterprise software stocks, including Salesforce, sold off as investors questioned whether large AI investments will generate sufficient returns. Higher inflation and expectations for elevated interest rates are also encouraging rotation away from growth-oriented technology shares. Enterprise Software Stocks Fall as AI Financing Worries Spread
• Negative Sentiment: Growth comparisons remain a concern. ServiceNow is expanding revenue faster than Salesforce, while Salesforce’s strategy of charging substantially more for premium AI-enabled editions creates execution risk if customers resist upgrades. Is Adobe a Better Way Than Salesforce to Own AI Software Growth?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. HC Wainwright downgraded Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.12.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.3%

The stock has a market cap of $198.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter worth $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.5% during 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. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $142,521,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.