Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $300.00 to $250.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 28.55% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Salesforce from $330.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.06.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of CRM stock 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 PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.32. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $303.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. The business’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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

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.