Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price was down 2% on Tuesday after Northland Securities lowered their price target on the stock from $267.00 to $229.00. Northland Securities currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $190.60 and last traded at $194.7770. Approximately 14,048,651 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 12,558,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.79.

CRM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.06.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce expanded its Agentforce platform with a dedicated contact-center product that bundles AI, voice and CRM — a strategic product launch that can drive higher ARR and deeper frontline adoption. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce is being pushed into new verticals (including a Formula 1 Fan Companion) and ecosystem plays, signaling scalable use-cases beyond core sales/service which supports long-term monetization of AI offerings. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party apps are launching on Salesforce’s AgentExchange (e.g., Pimly’s Product Intelligence), turning product information into an AI-ready layer inside Salesforce — this strengthens platform stickiness and expands addressable front-office use. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive CRM vendors (e.g., “HUBS”) are also reporting subscription growth and multi-product adoption — a reminder of competitive pressure that could affect win rates but not an immediate negative to Salesforce’s large enterprise footprint. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Northland Securities cut its price target to $229 and put a “market perform” rating on CRM — a visible analyst downgrade that reduces investor conviction and likely pressured the share price. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: DA Davidson lowered its price objective to $200 (from $235) and kept a neutral stance following recent results — another downward adjustment from sell-side coverage that feeds near-term selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary highlights investor skepticism about AI-driven SaaS valuations and a “show-me-the-money” stance after cautious guidance — sentiment that can amplify moves lower even when product metrics look positive. Read More.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.9% in the second quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Code Waechter LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.0%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $215.86 and a 200-day moving average of $236.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $179.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s 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.