Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Research Coverage Started at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $330.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on CRM. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.50.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $239.47 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $221.96 and a 52 week high of $367.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $249.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $251.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 150,534 shares of company stock worth $35,636,954. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after buying an additional 748,772 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after acquiring an additional 114,504 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy and a $330 price target — a high‑profile analyst start that supports upside from current levels and may attract momentum buyers. Goldman Sachs Assumes Coverage of Salesforce (CRM) Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched its revamped Slackbot (general availability) — an Agentforce/Slack integration powered by Anthropic that could drive product differentiation, higher ARPU and enterprise upsells if adoption scales. Salesforce releases updated Slackbot powered by Anthropic’s AI model
• Positive Sentiment: Partner ecosystem strength: Coastal (a Salesforce/AI consultancy) was acquired by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), potentially expanding global implementation capacity for Salesforce-led transformations. That can help enterprise deal flow over time. Coastal Joins Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to Accelerate Salesforce-Led Transformation at Global Scale
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media bullish narratives (Zacks, MarketBeat, Forbes, Seeking Alpha) highlight long‑term AI/cross‑cloud opportunity and argue the stock is undervalued — supportive for sentiment but not an immediate earnings catalyst. Why Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Negative Sentiment: Short‑term selling pressure is driven by concerns over slowing revenue growth and investor debate on AI monetization; commentary and headlines flag a pullback in shares and caution on near‑term execution. Why Salesforce (CRM) shares are plunging today
• Negative Sentiment: Growth is cooling to single digits in places, so the market is watching whether initiatives like Data 360 and Agentforce convert into materially higher‑value contracts soon enough to reaccelerate revenue. Can Salesforce’s Data 360 Push Drive Its Next Phase of Sales Growth?

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.