Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 3.6% Following Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares traded down 3.6% on Tuesday after Northland Securities downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a market perform rating. Northland Securities now has a $264.00 price target on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $239.55 and last traded at $239.87. 9,083,444 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 18% from the average session volume of 7,674,009 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.75.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $335.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.45, for a total value of $532,012.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,816,490,962.95. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,572,233 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Coign Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the first quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. KDT Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 4.1% during the first quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 7.3% in the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $228.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $244.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.13%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.