Analysts Set Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) PT at $278.82

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $274.5588.

A number of analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise software stocks are rallying broadly as investors rotate back into the group after recent pressure tied to fears that AI agents could disrupt traditional SaaS models. Salesforce is benefiting from that sector-wide rebound. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary still views Salesforce as an attractive blue-chip software holding, citing AI-related growth prospects and a relatively reasonable valuation versus peers like Oracle. Buy 5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI push remains a key debate on Wall Street. Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI may pressure Salesforce’s legacy CRM model and make monetization harder. BofA resets Salesforce stock price target with sobering AI verdict
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage is also focused on whether Salesforce can prove its AI strategy is working, with investors watching for evidence that Agentforce and related products can offset concerns about slower long-term growth. Software’s “Baby with the Bathwater” Moment
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlights Salesforce’s recent weakness and the argument that AI disruption could keep investors cautious until growth re-accelerates. Is It Time To Reconsider Salesforce (CRM) After This Year’s 32% Share Price Slide?

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $179.46 on Wednesday. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $288.44. 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 capitalization of $146.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $183.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $214.34.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.