Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 2.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price fell 2.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $200.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $183.17 and last traded at $184.21. 13,665,407 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 16% from the average session volume of 11,818,001 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.72.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CRM. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. BTIG Research started coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought 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 owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst and research pieces argue the recent pullback creates a buying opportunity because Salesforce’s AI initiatives (Data Cloud, Agentforce/AgentExchange) and multi-cloud deals can drive durable growth and margin expansion. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Comparative research highlights CRM as an AI-led growth story vs. peers (rising margins, steady beats) and positions Salesforce as a core cloud/AI investment as fiscal 2026 AI demand accelerates. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New and expanded partner integrations (e.g., Asymbl collaboration, AgentExchange integrations from third parties like CRMIT Solutions) reinforce adoption of Salesforce’s AI orchestration stack and create incremental ARR and use cases. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple bullish analyst and commentary pieces (MarketBeat, Seeking Alpha, Zacks) argue the “SaaS apocalypse” is overblown and that Salesforce’s valuation and product penetration create attractive upside from current levels. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mizuho trimmed its price target from $340 to $280 but kept an “outperform” rating — a mixed signal: lower target reduces upside expectations but the rating still implies conviction in CRM’s longer-term trajectory. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Calendar/catalyst watch: outlets are flagging Feb. 25 as an important date (likely guidance/earnings or investor event). Upcoming guidance will be a short-term price driver. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide fear of AI-driven “seat compression” and a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast/guidance headlines have pressured CRM and peers — this macro/psychological sell-off explains much of today’s price weakness even as fundamentals are debated. Read More.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company’s 50 day moving average is $236.82 and its 200-day moving average is $241.82. The company has a market capitalization of $172.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

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.