Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price dropped 1.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $146.32 and last traded at $150.1690. 20,340,697 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 45% from the average daily volume of 13,983,799 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective 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. Finally, HC Wainwright cut shares of Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $257.61.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.1%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $177.42 and a 200 day moving average of $204.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy 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 stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.