BMO Capital Markets Cuts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $235.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price cut by BMO Capital Markets from $275.00 to $235.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the subject of several other research reports. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $335.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Evercore cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $235.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.89.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $185.10 on Friday. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $180.24 and a 12-month high of $318.97. The stock has a market cap of $173.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $230.69 and a 200-day moving average of $240.01. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The business had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho keeps an Outperform rating on CRM, signaling continued analyst conviction that Salesforce can outperform peers as AI adoption supports growth. Mizuho Maintains an Outperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)
• Positive Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha upgrade frames the upcoming Q4 print as an opportunity to “silence the bears,” highlighting potential revenue acceleration, expanding backlog and clearer AI-driven sales/expense dynamics that could re-rate the stock if delivered. Salesforce: Q4 Earnings Is An Opportunity To Silence The Bears (Rating Upgrade)
• Positive Sentiment: Sector evidence: beaten-down software names (RingCentral, Five9) rallied after earnings that showed AI strengthening bookings — a sign that positive AI proofs could lift Salesforce if its own AI products (Agentforce, generative solutions) show similar commercial traction. Beaten-down software stocks RingCentral and Five9 rally as earnings quell some AI concerns
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks previews the Q4 print and urges focus beyond headline EPS/revenue — metrics like backlog, billings mix and AI subscription uptake will matter, making the upcoming report a data-driven catalyst rather than a simple beat/miss story. Salesforce (CRM) Q4 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other outlets note elevated investor attention and mixed analyst views — increased coverage raises volatility around the earnings print but doesn’t resolve direction until results and guidance arrive. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) is Attracting Investor Attention
• Negative Sentiment: BMO cut its price target from $275 to $235 (still “Outperform”), which reduces upside expectations and signals more cautious near-term valuation assumptions. salesforce.com (CRM) PT Lowered to $235 at BMO Capital
• Negative Sentiment: BTIG trimmed its price target to $260, and RBC moved to a Hold — more downward pressure from sell-side revisions that can sap momentum ahead of the quarter. BTIG Research Lowers Salesforce Price Target to $260 Salesforce (CRM) Receives a Hold from RBC Capital
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option buying was recorded (roughly 132k puts), indicating elevated hedging or bearish spec positions that increase downside risk and implied volatility into earnings. (reported trading flow)

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.