Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from "buy" to "hold," but analysts remain broadly positive — the consensus rating is "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $279.18 versus the current stock price around $182.
• Quarterly results beat expectations: Salesforce reported $3.81 EPS (vs. $3.05 expected) and $11.20B revenue (up 12.1% YoY) and issued FY2027 guidance of $13.11–$13.19 EPS and Q1 guidance of $3.11–$3.13 EPS.
• Board buyback and insider buying: The Board approved a $25 billion repurchase plan (about 14.1% of shares outstanding) and two directors recently purchased roughly 2,570 shares each, signaling management confidence.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also commented on CRM. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

CRM stock opened at $182.13 on Friday. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The firm has a market cap of $168.10 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $224.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. The business'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. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 961 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG reaffirmed a "buy" on CRM and set a $255 price target (≈40% upside vs. current levels), giving institutional backing that can support further upside. BTIG Reaffirms Buy on Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Headless 360, positioning its full platform as infrastructure for AI agents — a strategic move that could broaden addressable market and accelerate enterprise AI spending across the Salesforce stack. Salesforce launches Headless 360
• Positive Sentiment: Customer wins/expansions show traction for Agentforce 360 — travel platform Engine expanded use of AI agents and Slack, automating ~50% of chat cases, cutting handle time ~15% and improving satisfaction, which supports revenue upsell potential for contact-center automation. Engine expands Agentforce 360
• Positive Sentiment: Data 360 adoption shows strong momentum (reported ~200% ARR growth), highlighting a potential new growth driver for larger enterprise contracts and higher‑value deals. CRM's Data 360 Momentum Builds
• Neutral Sentiment: Software-sector momentum helped lift CRM amid a broad bounce in the IGV ETF; sector flows can amplify CRM moves but are not company‑specific fundamentals. Software Stocks Finish Week Hot
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media bullishness (e.g., opinion pieces expressing strong conviction) supports sentiment but is not new fundamental data; it can sustain momentum if paired with continued execution. Why I Have Strong Conviction In This Stock
• Negative Sentiment: A recent CMSWire review of Agentforce highlights strengths but also gaps versus rivals (implementation complexity and feature gaps in some areas), a reminder that competitive execution and product parity risk could temper adoption speed. Salesforce Agentforce Contact Center Review

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.

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