Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $185.73 and last traded at $193.89, with a volume of 12099432 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on CRM. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, January 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $340.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.57.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.3%

The stock has a market cap of $181.67 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average is $242.79 and its 200-day moving average is $244.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew 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 acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 27,361.5% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $484,852,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1,729.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $538,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,297 shares during the period. 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.