BMO Capital Markets Has Lowered Expectations for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $235.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.70% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CRM. Northland Securities raised their price target on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.06.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $194.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.32. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $303.07. The firm has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its stake in Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

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.