Salesforce slides as investors digest debt-funded buyback and fresh caution on leverage

Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) is down 4.9% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The move appears tied to investors reassessing Salesforce’s large, debt-funded accelerated share repurchase and the balance-sheet implications that come with it. After the initial optimism around the buyback, the stock can sell off as the market focuses on higher leverage, interest expense, and the possibility of more cautious analyst sentiment around near-term growth and valuation.

Details:

Salesforce announced it priced an offering of $25 billion of senior notes, and stated the net proceeds were intended to be used for accelerated share repurchase agreements.

Salesforce also disclosed the completion of the $25 billion senior notes offering and noted the proceeds were used to repurchase shares through ASR agreements, formalizing the leverage step-up.

This could be because some investors view the scale of debt issuance for buybacks as a signal that capital returns are being prioritized over flexibility, increasing sensitivity to rates and any slowdown in demand.

In the weeks surrounding the financing, multiple research updates and price-target adjustments circulated across the software group, which can amplify downside on a weak tape.

Sources:

Salesforce Investor Relations, SEC (EDGAR), Zacks

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$CRM Insider Trading Activity

$CRM insiders have traded $CRM stock on the open market 196 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 5 have been purchases and 191 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $CRM stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

PARKER HARRIS (Co-Founder and CTO, Slack) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 134,662 shares for an estimated $31,605,031.
G MASON MORFIT purchased 96,000 shares for an estimated $25,015,680
MARC BENIOFF (Chair and CEO) has made 0 purchases and 185 sales selling 65,372 shares for an estimated $16,161,404.
DAVID BLAIR KIRK has made 2 purchases buying 4,506 shares for an estimated $1,000,900 and 0 sales.
NEELIE KROES sold 3,893 shares for an estimated $929,275
LAURA ALBER has made 2 purchases buying 2,571 shares for an estimated $500,266 and 0 sales.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

$CRM Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 1,299 institutional investors add shares of $CRM stock to their portfolio, and 1,675 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

J. STERN & CO. LLP added 47,189,352 shares (+24056.7%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $12,500,931,238
UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 25,418,477 shares (-75.2%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $6,733,608,742
SANDERS CAPITAL, LLC added 8,615,819 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $2,282,416,611
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO removed 6,496,920 shares (-49.8%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $1,721,099,077
AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL INC added 3,930,311 shares (+80.5%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $1,041,178,687
CARDANO RISK MANAGEMENT B.V. added 3,504,605 shares (+924.7%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $928,404,910
HARRIS ASSOCIATES L P added 2,744,748 shares (+39.0%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $727,111,192

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$CRM Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $CRM stock 9 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 3 have been purchases and 6 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $CRM stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE DAVID TAYLOR has traded it 4 times. They made 2 purchases worth up to $30,000 on 02/09, 01/29 and 2 sales worth up to $65,000 on 02/26.
REPRESENTATIVE JULIA LETLOW has traded it 2 times. They made 0 purchases and 2 sales worth up to $30,000 on 02/02, 12/16.
SENATOR MARKWAYNE MULLIN purchased up to $50,000 on 12/29.
SENATOR JOHN BOOZMAN sold up to $15,000 on 11/13.
REPRESENTATIVE VAL T. HOYLE sold up to $15,000 on 09/23.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard.

$CRM Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $CRM in the last several months. We have seen 13 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Piper Sandler issued a "Overweight" rating on 02/26/2026
BTIG issued a "Buy" rating on 12/17/2025
BMO Capital issued a "Outperform" rating on 12/04/2025
Baird issued a "Outperform" rating on 12/04/2025
Wedbush issued a "Outperform" rating on 12/04/2025
Needham issued a "Buy" rating on 12/04/2025
Citizens issued a "Market Outperform" rating on 12/04/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $CRM, check out Quiver Quantitative's $CRM forecast page.

$CRM Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $CRM recently. We have seen 34 analysts offer price targets for $CRM in the last 6 months, with a median target of $262.5.

Here are some recent targets:

Nehal Chokshi from Northland Capital Markets set a target price of $229.0 on 03/10/2026
Tyler Radke from Citigroup set a target price of $200.0 on 03/02/2026
Gil Luria from DA Davidson set a target price of $200.0 on 02/27/2026
Billy Fitzsimmons from Piper Sandler set a target price of $250.0 on 02/26/2026
Derrick Wood from TD Cowen set a target price of $250.0 on 02/26/2026
Raimo Lenschow from Barclays set a target price of $252.0 on 02/26/2026
Rishi Jaluria from RBC Capital set a target price of $210.0 on 02/26/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.