Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.8% on Insider Selling

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares fell 2.8% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $226.44 and last traded at $227.10. 13,806,046 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 64% from the average session volume of 8,418,108 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.53.

Specifically, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.50.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy and a $330 price target, which gives institutional support to a recovery thesis. Goldman Sachs Assumes Coverage of Salesforce (CRM) Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce is landing marquee use cases — the World Economic Forum is deploying an Agentforce‑powered assistant at Davos, increasing visibility and enterprise validation for Salesforce’s agentic platform. World Economic Forum and Salesforce Empower Global Leaders
• Positive Sentiment: New partnerships expand Agentforce TAM — Viz.ai announced a real‑time clinical intelligence integration for Agentforce Life Sciences, helping monetize healthcare use cases. Viz.ai and Salesforce Collaborate to Transform Pharma Engagement
• Positive Sentiment: Product progress is visible (revamped Slackbot GA and analyst commentary pointing to medium‑term revenue upside if adoption scales). Salesforce makes revamped Slackbot generally available
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer‑term valuation arguments persist: several analyst write‑ups see attractive cash‑flow multiples and recovery potential, but they are not immediate catalysts. Salesforce: Cheap 14x FCF Multiple And Agentforce Acceleration
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional ownership remains high and some funds have added to positions, which supports longer‑term stability but doesn’t prevent short‑term volatility. CRM institutional holdings and data
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually heavy put buying — roughly 157k put contracts traded, well above normal volume, a strong short‑term bearish/hedging signal contributing to selling pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: Sector headlines about agentic coding (e.g., Claude Code) stoking fears that agentic AI could cannibalize SaaS license and services revenue, pressuring CRM multiples. 3 Stocks to Avoid as Software Sector Stumbles
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director Neelie Kroes sold ~3,893 shares (~35% reduction in her holdings), which can be perceived negatively by traders. SEC filing: Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Media pieces are questioning whether the pullback is a buying opportunity or a value trap; that narrative is keeping sentiment cautious and amplifying outflows. Is CRM a bargain or a value trap?

Salesforce Stock Down 2.8%

The company has a market capitalization of $212.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $249.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.92.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Omnia Family Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,138 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Morangie Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 57.7% during the fourth quarter. Morangie Management LLC now owns 10,443 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,771,000 after buying an additional 3,822 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 319.5% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,460 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,711,000 after acquiring an additional 4,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.