Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 2.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price dropped 2.5% during trading on Friday after DA Davidson lowered their price target on the stock from $235.00 to $200.00. DA Davidson currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $189.92 and last traded at $194.47. Approximately 16,209,539 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 28% from the average daily volume of 12,622,304 shares. The stock had previously closed at $199.47.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BTIG Research cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price target on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, 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. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

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

Salesforce Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $223.98 and its 200-day moving average is $238.32.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

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.