Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Receives Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $375.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Macquarie Infrastructure raised their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on Salesforce from $335.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.56.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $185.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $173.95 billion, a PE ratio of 24.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $227.77 and a 200-day moving average of $239.19. Salesforce has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $313.70. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce’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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,751,073,000 after acquiring an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding AI capabilities (Momentum acquisition, partnerships for identity and governance) that support its Agentforce/Slackbot roadmap — a tangible product push investors see as earnings- and growth-accretive. Salesforce AI Deals Test Investor Patience As Valuation Screens Attractive
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and previews expect a strong Q4 with margin tailwinds from cost cuts and AI-driven product leverage — upbeat previews are supporting bullish positioning into the print. Salesforce Q4 earnings on deck: What to expect
• Positive Sentiment: A broader software rally tied to an Anthropic-related announcement lifted AI-linked names, giving Salesforce sector-driven relief that helped push the stock up. US software stocks climb as Anthropic announcement sparks relief rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Options market pricing signals a sizable move is expected around Wednesday’s after‑hours Q4 report — raises short-term volatility risk but not a directional read. Here’s How Much Salesforce Stock Is Expected to Move After Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp trimmed its price target substantially (from $400 to $300) but left an overweight stance — a mixed signal that reduces upside expectations while still reflecting conviction in the business. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms have cut price targets and flagged earnings/valuation risk ahead of Q4, underscoring downside sensitivity if revenue growth disappoints or AI investments don’t convert quickly. Big Salesforce Price Target Cuts Ahead of Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Persistent critique around SaaS vulnerability to “agentic AI” and reminders of prior sharp corrections keep longer-term sentiment fragile — bulls point to AI integration, bears point to execution and valuation risks. What The Bulls Are Missing About Salesforce Stock

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.