Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2.3% – Here’s Why

Posted by Francis Steltz on Oct 18th, 2026

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) traded down 2.3% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $237.26 and last traded at $241.0050. 8,217,122 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 13,549,783 shares. The stock had previously closed at $246.74.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Hunter, an AI-powered outbound sales agent built on Agentforce. Integrations with ZoomInfo, Demandbase and DocuSign could increase adoption of Salesforce’s higher-value AI workflows and make the platform more embedded in customers’ sales and contracting processes. Salesforce unveils Hunter for AI-powered outbound sales
Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reportedly upgraded Salesforce in a rare double upgrade, citing improving confidence in the company’s AI strategy, including a small AI acquisition and changes to AI-product pricing. The upgrade supports the view that monetization could improve as customers move to premium offerings. Salesforce received a rare double upgrade
Positive Sentiment: The Loops AI acquisition and new Agentforce capabilities reinforce Salesforce’s effort to turn AI into a growth driver, although investors will need evidence of meaningful revenue acceleration. Salesforce buys the Loops AI platform
Neutral Sentiment: Investor interest in CRM has risen sharply, with Salesforce appearing among heavily searched stocks. This may increase visibility but is not, by itself, a fundamental catalyst. Investors heavily search Salesforce
Negative Sentiment: Enterprise-software shares are falling as worries spread that aggressive AI infrastructure and financing commitments may not generate sufficient returns. Salesforce is being pulled lower alongside other AI-linked software leaders. Enterprise software stocks fall as AI financing worries spread
Negative Sentiment: Investors are comparing Salesforce’s premium-edition price increases with Adobe’s more user-friendly pricing approach, raising concerns that Salesforce’s AI monetization strategy could pressure customer upgrades or retention. Adobe versus Salesforce for AI software growth

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.12.

View Our Latest Report on CRM

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $231.47 and a 200-day moving average of $194.82.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% during the third quarter. Thor Investment Management Inc. OH ADV now owns 6,422 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the third quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 3,396 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the first quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,714 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Salesforce

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Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.