Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $210.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $235.00 to $210.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.06.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.5%

Salesforce stock opened at $194.47 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $303.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $238.37. The company has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

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 bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Summary

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

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.