Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 3% – Time to Buy?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price was up 3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $228.72 and last traded at $228.19. Approximately 9,456,300 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 4% from the average daily volume of 9,131,780 shares. The stock had previously closed at $221.58.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators say Salesforce’s Agentforce integrations and broader “agentic AI” strategy could materially alter the bull case if they drive strong adoption and Data Cloud monetization. This is being read as a potential catalyst for revenue re-acceleration. The Bull Case For Salesforce (CRM) Could Change Following Its Agentic AI Push With Agentforce Integrations
• Positive Sentiment: Retail investor interest has surged on social platforms after a ~32% decline in share price, with some traders calling a bottom — that sentiment can increase buying pressure and support near-term rallies. After a 32% Reckoning In Shares, Investors Are Calling The Salesforce Bottom. It’s Time To Rally | CRM
• Positive Sentiment: Technical analysts note CRM is trading inside a historical support range where past rebounds occurred, making it a potential buying opportunity for value-oriented and tactical traders. Is Salesforce Stock At A Key Buying Opportunity?
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on AI investing (including takes inspired by Andrew Ng) highlights the broader theme that AI apps remain underinvested — a tailwind for CRM as a major enterprise AI platform, though it’s a thematic rather than company-specific catalyst. Andrew Ng Thinks AI Apps are “Underinvested”—Here are the Stocks I’d Buy in Response
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst pieces note the Agentic AI push could reignite growth but emphasize execution risk — meaning the long-term upside depends on adoption and measurable revenue lift from Agentforce and Data Cloud. Salesforce Bets on Agentic AI: Will It Reignite CRM’s Revenue Growth?
• Negative Sentiment: High-profile coverage (including Jim Cramer) highlights Salesforce’s seat-based model and the company’s recent struggles; combined with the >30% Y/Y share decline, those points keep downside risk and skepticism elevated until growth visibly improves. Jim Cramer Discusses Salesforce (CRM)’s Seat Model

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho set a $340.00 price objective on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.51.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $213.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $247.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 145,427 shares of company stock worth $34,290,361 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.