Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 1.5% – Time to Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price traded down 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $184.83 and last traded at $185.8520. 12,962,471 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 13,458,130 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.75.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. B. Riley Financial upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.97.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $181.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.06. The stock has a market cap of $152.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Salesforce by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after buying an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in Salesforce by 924.7% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,028,807,000 after buying an additional 3,504,605 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.