Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $284.0571.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Roth Mkm cut their price target on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. BTIG Research lowered their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results showed a big non‑GAAP EPS beat and double‑digit revenue growth, with Agentforce cited as a key growth driver — the earnings strength is the main bullish catalyst. Salesforce Crushed Earnings by 25% and Still Can’t Get Any Respect
• Positive Sentiment: Management authorized a $50 billion buyback, raised FY30 revenue ambition to ~$63B and increased the quarterly dividend — these capital‑return moves support EPS per‑share upside and signal confidence from the board. Salesforce targets $63B revenue by FY30 while expanding Agentforce and $50B buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Some brokers (e.g., Wedbush) reiterated bullish views and called CRM a long‑term AI winner, supporting a recovery narrative despite the recent sell‑off. Salesforce Stock Climbs After Earnings. Wedbush Calls It ‘Long-Term Winner’ of the AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street reacted with many price‑target resets — several firms trimmed targets but maintained Buy/Overweight ratings, leaving consensus upside but also a wider target dispersion to watch. Salesforce’s AI Bet Is Paying Off—the Buyback Proves It
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue outlook/near‑term guidance was viewed as soft by some investors — the quarter’s guidance cadence (mid‑year weakness) pressured shares in after‑hours trading. Salesforce tops Q4 estimates but softer revenue guidance pressures shares
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts flagged mixed cloud momentum and cautioned on a near‑term growth slowdown even as AI adoption builds — raises the risk of cyclical softness before the AI inflection fully materializes. Salesforce faces near-term growth slowdown as AI inflection builds, Jefferies says
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms cut price targets (examples include Sanford Bernstein’s move to Underperform and multiple downward adjustments across banks), which can cap near‑term upside until guidance clarity improves. Analyst price target updates

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $199.38 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $225.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $304.92.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 27,361.5% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after buying an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Salesforce

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.