Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 3.9% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded down 3.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $175.90 and last traded at $180.9530. 11,652,114 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 13,881,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson cut their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Phillip Securities lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $166.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $170.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.57.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,236 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 745 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.