Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 2% – What’s Next?

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price traded up 2% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $187.47 and last traded at $185.5620. 10,310,726 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 12,918,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.96.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: U.S. Department of Labor selected Salesforce’s Agentforce to modernize its National Contact Center and launch the “DOLA” AI agent to handle millions of citizen support cases — a high-visibility, large-scale win validating Agentforce for government deployments. Salesforce Stock Climbs After U.S. Labor Dept. Adopts AI Contact Center
• Positive Sentiment: The Veterans Health Administration deployed a Salesforce-powered “agentic operating system” to reduce staff hours and improve veteran care across hundreds of facilities, showing healthcare traction for Agentforce. VHA Deploys Salesforce-Powered Agentic Operating System
• Positive Sentiment: Adecco Group is rolling out Agentforce across its global recruitment operations, a commercial endorsement that tests Salesforce’s AI monetization and scaling in enterprise services. Adecco Group Taps Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) for Agentforce Following Nvidia Pact
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage highlight margin improvement driven by cost cuts and initial AI ARR growth — supporting near-term profitability even as Salesforce continues to invest in AI. Salesforce’s Cost Cuts Boost Margins: Will Expansion Continue Further?
• Neutral Sentiment: Management announced selective compensation changes (no raises for director-level and above, increased stock/bonus for top performers) and under-1,000 role cuts — a cost-control signal that helps margins but may concern culture/retention. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted equity awards tied to the Apromore acquisition (standard inducement grants) — routine but modestly dilutive. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: ARK/other active managers have trimmed CRM positions recently — a flow note to watch but not a company-specific operational change. Adecco Group Taps Salesforce Inc. (CRM) for Agentforce Following Nvidia Pact
• Negative Sentiment: Recent investor pain: a first revenue shortfall (reported 3/24) and a mid-week selloff remain fresh in investor memory, supporting volatile reaction to any competitive AI news. Salesforce (CRM) Tumbles 6% Following First Revenue Shortfall in Nearly Two Decades
• Negative Sentiment: AI competition concerns resurfaced after announcements from rivals (e.g., Anthropic) about advanced agent capabilities, which can pressure expectations for Salesforce’s differentiated positioning. Why Salesforce (CRM) Shares Are Getting Obliterated Today

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $200.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business 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 is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Institutional investors 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.