Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $250.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $300.00 to $250.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.06.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.37. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $303.07. The company has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Salesforce News

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.