Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 3.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was down 3.9% during mid-day trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $398.00 to $287.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $174.57 and last traded at $177.9990. Approximately 15,464,490 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the average daily volume of 11,775,777 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.16.

CRM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire Momentum, a conversational‑insights and revenue‑orchestration platform — the deal is expected to extend Agentforce 360 and Slackbot capabilities to ingest and analyze third‑party unstructured voice data, strengthening Salesforce’s AI/contact‑center stack and product monetization potential. Salesforce Inc (CRM) Expands AI Capabilities With Momentum Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/industry coverage highlights a large “agentic AI” opportunity for Salesforce — pieces argue Agentforce and other AI initiatives could be a multi‑year revenue tailwind if execution and GTM scale succeed. This supports a longer‑term growth narrative even as near‑term metrics are watched closely. Salesforce: Capitalizing On The Massive Agentic AI Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated interest and provides a read on short‑term sentiment — Benzinga’s options deep dive notes concentrated positioning that can amplify moves into earnings, making volatility around the print more likely. Traders should watch skew and open interest for signals. Salesforce Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Market Sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre‑earnings preview: Zacks notes AI/cloud demand could push Q4 revenue toward ~$11.2B and that prior cost cuts may boost EPS, but outcome hinges on product uptake and guidance for FY27 — results/guidance will likely drive the next leg of the move. Can AI and Cloud Strength Keep Salesforce’s Growth on Track in Q4?
• Negative Sentiment: Major broker price‑target cuts surfaced ahead of Q4 results, which has pressured sentiment — several firms trimmed targets, signaling lower near‑term expectations and increasing downside risk if guidance disappoints. Big Salesforce Price Target Cuts Ahead of Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage flags that Salesforce’s AI agent push plus related job cuts are reframing the investment story toward automation‑driven efficiency — investors may view workforce reductions and restructuring as a sign management is prioritizing margins, which can be read positively or negatively depending on growth outlook. Did Salesforce’s (CRM) AI Agent Push and Job Cuts Just Recast Its Automation-Driven Investment Narrative?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was flagged in a broader report on executives exiting positions — while not definitive, increased insider sales can add to short‑term negative sentiment ahead of earnings. Sell… Sell… Sell… Another Eight Companies Insiders Are Exiting

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 98.3% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co grew its position in Salesforce by 2.3% during the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Salesforce by 15.1% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $113,420,000 after acquiring an additional 61,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.9%

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $229.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.57.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.