Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given New $252.00 Price Target at Barclays

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $265.00 to $252.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 28.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CRM. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho cut their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Salesforce from $257.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.47.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE:CRM traded up $3.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $195.64. 9,992,991 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,065,592. The company has a fifty day moving average of $226.45 and a 200 day moving average of $238.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $304.92. The company has a market capitalization of $183.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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, analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its stake in Salesforce by 24,056.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,028,807,000 after acquiring an additional 3,504,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 27,361.5% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and robust EPS guidance — Salesforce reported a Q4 EPS beat with revenue up ~12% and issued FY27 EPS guidance (13.110–13.190) and Q1 EPS guidance (3.110–3.130) that were above Street expectations, supporting momentum in the print. Salesforce Q4 Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Large $50B buyback announced — management committed to a $50 billion repurchase program, a material capital-return signal that typically supports near-term share price by reducing float and showing confidence from the board. CNBC Buyback Article
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase — Salesforce raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 (up from $0.42), modestly improving yield and reinforcing shareholder returns as part of the capital allocation story.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price-target moves are mixed — BMO trimmed its PT to $225 but kept an Outperform rating (still implying upside), and KeyCorp lowered a prior target but remains overweight; analysts are split between seeing long-term upside and short-term risk.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-wide digesting of megacap earnings — broader futures and index moves are muted as markets parse results from Nvidia and Salesforce along with macro prints, so sector sentiment is a relevant offset. Proactive: Futures Digest
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance and AI fears created dovish reaction — some coverage notes revenue guidance was slightly softer than some expectations and investor concern about AI-driven disruption to SaaS persists; that narrative pressured shares in after-hours trading for a time. Proactive: Softer Guidance Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Citi keeps a Hold and conservative PT — Citi maintained a Hold with a ~$197 target, signaling that at least some Street participants view near-term upside as limited absent clearer evidence AI monetization and revenue acceleration are durable. TipRanks / Citi Note

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.