Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 2.9% on Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares fell 2.9% during trading on Tuesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $200.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $183.17 and last traded at $184.21. 13,665,407 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average session volume of 11,818,001 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.72.

CRM has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and bulls argue the pullback is overdone; several write-ups highlight Salesforce’s AI investments (Agentforce/Data Cloud), improving margins and institutional accumulation as reasons the stock can rebound. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial tie-ups expand AI/workforce use cases — Asymbl announced an expanded collaboration with Salesforce to advance workforce orchestration with AI, which supports enterprise adoption of Salesforce AI offerings. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain bullish despite cuts — Mizuho trimmed its price target but kept an “Outperform” stance, signaling conviction that upside remains after the pullback. This can limit further downside if upgrades/targets stabilize. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company narrative: management pushing AI and big deals — Coverage noting Salesforce strengthening outlook with AI-led deals reinforces the view that fundamentals and deal flow are intact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector reset creates valuation opportunities — Industry pieces list Salesforce among software names that now look cheap, which may attract value-oriented buyers but also keeps the stock sensitive to macro/AI sentiment. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader sector dynamics: ServiceNow insider buying is a signal that managements may view current prices as attractive; it’s a mixed-but-important signal for the whole SaaS cohort (including CRM). That could stabilize sentiment but is an indirect influence. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term catalyst: weaker-than-expected revenue guidance and fears of slower enterprise spending have been cited as the primary trigger for recent selling pressure. Guidance/query risk remains the key downside catalyst ahead of reporting cycles. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: headlines and momentum selling (Zacks coverage of the decline) are amplifying the move lower; analyst target cuts and sector panic can sustain volatility until clearer guidance or results arrive. Read More.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,207,553 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $319,893,000 after buying an additional 52,517 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 235.7% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 150,646 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $39,908,000 after acquiring an additional 105,771 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 11,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,035,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $405,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,451,797 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $384,596,000 after purchasing an additional 298,148 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $235.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.35. The stock has a market cap of $172.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

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.