Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.4% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares were down 2.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $163.31 and last traded at $166.8060. Approximately 14,649,212 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 9% from the average daily volume of 13,443,295 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.92.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.2%

The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. The business’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, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 3,312 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares during the period. Positano Wealth Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 234.5% during the 1st quarter. Positano Wealth Management Ltd now owns 42,146 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,867,000 after purchasing an additional 29,546 shares in the last quarter. Farmers National Bank increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 69.2% during the 1st quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 4,060 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 1,190 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caerus Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 150.6% during the 1st quarter. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is 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.