Salesforce Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 131,990 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 84% compared to the typical volume of 71,650 put options.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co boosted its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $44,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $257.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.00.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha upgraded CRM to a Buy, arguing valuation looks compelling after AI‑driven SaaS weakness and highlighting Agentforce and potential Q4 catalysts like revenue acceleration and backlog expansion. Salesforce: Q4 Earnings Is An Opportunity To Silence The Bears (Rating Upgrade)
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks publishes a “buy the dip” case, noting CRM is technically oversold and that analysts have been revising estimates higher — a setup bulls say could produce a snapback. Down 15.3% in 4 Weeks, Here’s Why You Should You Buy the Dip in Salesforce (CRM)
• Positive Sentiment: UBS checks point to an uptick in Agentforce adoption (supporting AI recurring revenue growth), which could help reaccelerate sales if confirmed on the earnings call. Salesforce in focus as checks show uptick in Agentforce, ‘muted’ core growth: UBS
• Neutral Sentiment: AcuityMD launched an AcuityMD app on the Salesforce AppExchange — a modest partnership signal for ecosystem activity but not a material revenue driver near term. AcuityMD Announces AcuityMD for Salesforce on Salesforce AppExchange
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks included Salesforce in a roundup of founder‑led companies with long‑term growth potential — supportive for sentiment but not an immediate catalyst. Founder-Led Powerhouses That Boast Durable Growth Potential
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual options activity: traders bought ~131,990 put contracts (about +84% vs. average), signaling heightened downside hedging/speculation into the print — a clear near‑term negative flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pressure: several firms trimmed targets or moved to neutral/hold (Citigroup cut target to $197; Wells Fargo lowered to $235/equal weight; RBC issued a Hold; Mizuho flagged a pessimistic outlook). Those calls, and headlines about a downgrade driving intraday weakness, are weighing on the stock. Benzinga: Analyst updates RBC Hold Mizuho Pessimistic Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Negative narratives in the press — pieces framing CRM as a laggard among mega‑cap tech/Dow names and discussing potential buyout dynamics (and governance hurdles) — add to risk‑off sentiment around the ticker. The Dow’s Biggest Losers of 2026 The Buyout Case for Salesforce

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $185.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $180.24 and a 1 year high of $324.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average is $232.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.59.

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 company had revenue of $10.26 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 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.