Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective lowered by investment analysts at Barclays from $265.00 to $252.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 29.58% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $257.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.06.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $194.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $303.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value 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. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

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.