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

28 Feb 2026, 16:08 by Kim Johansen · The Markets Daily

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Mizuho from $280.00 to $265.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price suggests a potential upside of 36.27% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on CRM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.06.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Salesforce

Salesforce Stock Down 2.5%

NYSE CRM opened at $194.47 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $223.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $238.32. Salesforce has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $303.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $182.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,286,909,000 after acquiring an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Summary

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

Salesforce Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.