Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Falls 2.7% – Should You Sell?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was down 2.7% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $240.63 and last traded at $240.8250. Approximately 7,456,552 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 13,329,114 shares. The stock had previously closed at $247.61.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce supports the AI growth narrative. Salesforce’s Agentforce generative-AI platform is strengthening the company’s artificial-intelligence positioning and could provide a new source of recurring revenue as customers adopt AI-powered service and sales tools. Agentforce Growth Strengthens Salesforce’s Generative AI Narrative
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and quantitative screens remain constructive. Zacks highlighted Salesforce as a highly ranked growth stock, while its average brokerage recommendation remains favorable. Another report argued that CRM looks inexpensive relative to its earnings power, potentially supporting the shares if Salesforce sustains earnings growth. Salesforce Is a Top-Ranked Growth Stock
• Positive Sentiment: The Braze acquisition adds strategic potential. Salesforce’s planned $5.66 billion purchase of customer-engagement software provider Braze could broaden its marketing and engagement capabilities, although investors will monitor the deal’s integration and returns. Stocktwits M&A Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce remains a prominent technology stock. Comparisons with IBM emphasize CRM’s leadership in customer-relationship management and broad AI integration, while increased investor attention may improve visibility but does not itself change fundamentals. Salesforce vs. IBM
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking is weighing on sentiment. Burke Wealth Management sold its Salesforce position after a roughly 20% post-earnings rally, signaling that some investors view the recent rebound as an opportunity to lock in gains rather than chase the stock higher. Why Burke Wealth Sold Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Execution risks remain. Commentary from Japan-focused Salesforce partners warned against the platform becoming primarily a “record-keeper,” highlighting the need for customers to achieve measurable sales-process improvements. This underscores concerns about adoption, competition, and whether AI investments translate into durable growth. Sales Model Reform

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.7%

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 firm has a market cap of $198.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $235.03 and a 200 day moving average of $199.47.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Latitude Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% in the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. ABS Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $610,974,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.