Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 2.2% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price was up 2.2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $193.45 and last traded at $189.5770. Approximately 14,801,776 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 11,757,992 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.43.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Options market activity shows elevated bullish positioning into the company’s FQ4 earnings, suggesting traders expect an upside surprise or are hedging for volatility. What the Options Market Tells Us About Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts are broadly constructive ahead of FQ4 2026, which supports short-term momentum and helps explain buying interest. Wall Street bullish on Salesforce (CRM) ahead of its FQ4 2026 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Several retail/investor pieces argue the recent pullback is a buying opportunity—some investors and commentators (including a Seeking Alpha author) are actively buying the “Salesforce crash,” which can amplify demand on dips. SaaSpocalypse: Why I’m Buying The Salesforce Crash
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bullish takes (e.g., 247WallStreet) list CRM as a top tech holding for a multi-year horizon, reinforcing buy-and-hold narratives for value/growth investors. What Is One of the Best Tech Stocks to Hold for the Next 10 Years?
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights CRM as a top-ranked value stock on style scores, which can attract value-oriented flows after the pullback. Salesforce.com (CRM) is a Top-Ranked Value Stock: Should You Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: New entrants are launching AI-native layers to run GTM workflows on top of any CRM—this is an emerging competitive/partner dynamic that could both pressure fees and spur integrations; impact is uncertain. Aurasell Launches World’s First AI-Native OS to Run Intelligent GTM Workflows on Any CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces and analyst-roundup articles are dissecting whether Wall Street optimism is priced in; these pieces mostly reiterate mixed views and won’t move the stock unless they include rating changes. Analysts stay constructive on Salesforce (CRM) despite sector weakness
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad analysis on AI-driven ETF weakness asks whether the panic is overblown; this macro debate will influence sector multiples but is not specific to CRM’s near-term operations. AI Disruption Hit Multiple Sector ETFs: Is the Fear Overblown?
• Negative Sentiment: Company-level cost and leadership changes tied to its AI push were reported alongside commentary that CRM returns are weak—workforce and leadership reshaping can signal execution risk and near-term disruption. Salesforce Reshapes Workforce And Leadership As AI Push Meets Weak CRM Returns
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage explaining why CRM has recently fallen notes sector-driven selling, multiple compression, and profit-taking—these are the same dynamics that can keep upside capped until catalysts arrive. Here’s Why Salesforce.com (CRM) Fell More Than Broader Market
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-level rout in software (ETF down sharply) driven by fears of AI replacing software workloads remains a headwind; broader sentiment could keep CRM under pressure even if fundamentals hold. 3 Historically Cheap Software Stocks Begging to Be Bought Amid the Recent Tech Rout

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 17th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.57.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.2%

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’s 50 day moving average price is $239.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $243.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.41 earnings per share. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.16%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 shares were purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised 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% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 50.1% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 3,086 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.