Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 2.6% Following Insider Selling

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price traded down 2.6% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $231.67 and last traded at $233.30. 11,450,875 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 45% from the average session volume of 7,878,247 shares. The stock had previously closed at $239.57.

Specifically, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.51.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise validation for Agentforce — World Economic Forum will use an Agentforce‑powered assistant at Davos, boosting visibility for Salesforce’s agentic platform and enterprise adoption case. World Economic Forum and Salesforce Empower Global Leaders
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial expansion in healthcare — Viz.ai announced a real‑time clinical intelligence integration for Agentforce Life Sciences, which can increase addressable market and use‑case monetization if adoption scales. Viz.ai and Salesforce Collaborate
• Positive Sentiment: Product traction and bullish commentary — Slackbot revamp is generally available and on‑air analysts/guests (Phil Palumbo) call Salesforce “nothing broken” about its business at a discounted price, supporting a recovery narrative. Salesforce makes revamped Slackbot generally available Palumbo video
• Neutral Sentiment: Large institutional holders remain heavily invested (Vanguard, State Street, etc.), which provides ownership stability but is not an immediate catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and valuation write‑ups note attractive long‑term cash‑flow multiples and Agentforce upside; useful for longer‑term investors but not a short‑term trigger. Seeking Alpha piece
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually heavy put buying — roughly 157k put contracts traded (about +144% vs. normal), a direct bearish signal that likely amplified selling and hedging flows intraday.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Director Neelie Kroes sold ~3,893 shares (~$929k) on Jan. 14; insider sales often add short‑term pressure even when not indicative of company fundamentals. SEC Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Sector/AI fears — coverage and headlines (e.g., “Claude Code” and MarketBeat pieces) argue agentic AI could cannibalize high‑margin human‑driven SaaS revenue, fueling sentiment that CRM names may lose licensing growth. AOL: Why Salesforce stock is already down MarketBeat: 3 Stocks to Avoid

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $212.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $249.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $250.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Udine Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $2,660,000. Louisbourg Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 39,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $10,384,000 after buying an additional 2,396 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Omnia Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,138 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.