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

Key Points

• Shares fell about 2% midday after Northland Securities cut its price target from $267 to $229 and set a "market perform" rating; the stock traded as low as $190.60 on volume roughly 12% above average.
• Sell-side views are mixed but cautiously positive overall — MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target of $282.06, even as several firms recently lowered their targets.
• Underlying fundamentals remain strong: Salesforce beat quarterly EPS ($3.81 vs. $3.05) and revenue ($11.20B vs. $11.18B), issued FY2027/Q1 guidance, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 2% during mid-day trading 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. 14,048,651 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 12,558,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.79.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore cut their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.06.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

More 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 Trading of Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 3.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.0%

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $215.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce'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. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

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