BMO Capital Markets Lowers Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $225.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target cut by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $235.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued on Thursday. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.07% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Salesforce from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.39.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $192.19 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.86. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $313.70. The stock has a market cap of $180.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. 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 forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th 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 grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after purchasing an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat on the bottom line and revenue held up — adjusted EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 consensus and revenue $11.20B (~12% YoY). Strong EPS beat is the main near-term catalyst. MarketBeat Q4 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised earnings guidance sharply — FY‑2027 EPS guide of ~13.11–13.19 and Q1 EPS guide above consensus — which supports valuation and helped lift sentiment despite mixed revenue wording. Reuters Guidance Report
• Positive Sentiment: Share buyback — company committed to a large repurchase program (reported as $50B), which is a strong capital-return signal and typically supports near-term stock demand. CNBC Buyback Article
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase — quarterly payout raised to $0.44 (5.8% hike), modest yield but a sign of shareholder-friendly policy. (Company announcement)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street split — Wedbush reiterated Outperform with a high target, showing continued bull conviction, while other firms adjusted targets; these mixed analyst views leave momentum uneven. Wedbush Reiterate
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp trimmed its price target (from a higher prior level to $300) but kept an overweight stance — reduces upside expectations from some bulls but still signals confidence. KeyCorp PT Change
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue growth/guidance nuance and AI fears weigh — some investors focused on mixed/timid revenue language and the sector-wide worry that AI could compress long-term SaaS pricing, which pressured the stock after the print. Proactive: Softer Revenue Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: After‑hours pressure and critique of metrics — third‑party coverage highlighted some metrics below expectations and increased cautious commentary (including reports of post‑earnings weakness), keeping volatility elevated. QuiverQuant Post‑Earnings Coverage

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.