Salesforce (CRM) Stock News Today (Dec. 12, 2025): ValueAct’s $25M Insider Buy, FY2026 Forecast, and Agentforce Pricing Signals

Updated: December 12, 2025

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) is back in the spotlight on December 12, 2025 as investors balance three narratives that often pull software stocks in different directions: (1) a fresh, high-profile insider purchase tied to ValueAct, (2) the company’s raised FY2026 outlook and accelerating AI “Agentforce” momentum, and (3) emerging signals around how Salesforce plans to price and monetize AI agents—a central question for the next leg of the enterprise software cycle. ^[1]

Below is a comprehensive round-up of today’s Salesforce stock news, the latest forecasts and analyst price targets, and the key risks and catalysts shaping sentiment into early 2026.

Salesforce stock price today: where CRM shares stand on Dec. 12, 2025

Salesforce shares traded around $262.35 on December 12, 2025, down about 0.7% versus the prior close at the time of the latest available quote.

Key reference points that investors are watching right now:

Market cap: roughly $246B ^[2]
52-week range: approximately $221.96 to $367.09 ^[3]
Dividend profile: annualized dividend around $1.66 with the next quarterly payment scheduled for January 8, 2026, for shareholders of record on December 18, 2025 ^[4]
Valuation snapshots (commonly cited): trailing P/E in the mid-30s and forward P/E near the low-20s range on many market-data dashboards ^[5]

Those numbers matter because “mega-cap software” is increasingly being judged on durable cash flow + credible AI monetization, not just top-line growth.

The fundamental backdrop: Salesforce raised FY2026 guidance after Q3 results

The most important fundamental anchor for CRM stock remains Salesforce’s third-quarter fiscal 2026 results (quarter ended Oct. 31, 2025) and the updated full-year view management provided on December 3.

Highlights from Salesforce’s Q3 FY2026 update included:

Revenue:$10.3B, up 9% year-over-year
Subscription & support revenue:$9.7B, up 10% year-over-year
cRPO (current remaining performance obligation):$29.4B, up 11% year-over-year
RPO (remaining performance obligation):$59.5B, up 12% year-over-year
Operating cash flow:$2.3B (up 17% YoY) and free cash flow:$2.2B (up 22% YoY)
Capital return in the quarter:$4.2B total, including $3.8B of share repurchases and $395M of dividends
FY2026 revenue guidance:$41.45B–$41.55B
FY2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance:$11.75–$11.77 ^[6]

Reuters also framed the update as evidence that Salesforce’s AI offerings—particularly Agentforce—are helping support a higher outlook. ^[7]

Why this matters for the stock

For equity investors, the Q3 package reinforced a specific thesis: Salesforce can pair single-digit revenue growth with expanding profitability and aggressive capital return, while using AI products to defend pricing and accelerate cross-sell inside its installed base.

That combination tends to matter more late-cycle—especially if enterprise buyers remain cautious and prioritize projects with measurable ROI.

Today’s biggest Salesforce stock headline: ValueAct-linked insider buying

One of the most-clicked CRM stock items today is the large insider purchase tied to G. Mason Morfit / ValueAct.

A Form 4 filed with the SEC shows a purchase of 96,000 shares at $260.58 on December 5, 2025. ^[8]

Multiple market outlets have amplified the transaction in recent days, treating it as a confidence signal during a period when investors are debating how quickly “AI agents” translate into revenue and renewal strength. ^[9]

How investors typically interpret this (and the caveat)

Large insider buys can reinforce bullish sentiment because they are often read as management/board conviction. Still, insiders can buy for many reasons, and a single transaction is not a guaranteed timing signal—especially for mega-cap stocks where multiple strategic and portfolio considerations can be at play.

AI monetization is the new battleground: Salesforce shifts the Agentforce pricing conversation

Beyond the buy-and-sell headlines, pricing may be the most consequential Salesforce story developing right now—because pricing model choices determine whether AI becomes a margin tailwind or a cost-heavy feature bundle.

Seat-based licensing: predictability over per-conversation pricing

A notable December 12 analysis described Salesforce moving toward seat-based AI licensing as customers push for predictable spend, after earlier experimentation with usage/conversation-based pricing concepts. The same piece notes the tension: customers want cost certainty; vendors want protection against runaway AI usage costs. ^[10]

This is particularly relevant to the stock because Wall Street is still calibrating what “AI agents” mean financially:

If AI is mostly bundled and priced conservatively, adoption may rise but revenue uplift could lag.
If AI is metered aggressively, revenue per customer can rise—but adoption could slow and churn risk could increase.

Either way, investors view “pricing clarity” as a prerequisite for modeling FY2027–FY2028 upside.

Price changes for apps accessing Salesforce data

Separately, a Reuters item-citing summary reported that Salesforce raised prices on apps that tap its data, referencing reporting by The Information. ^[11]

While details vary by customer and partner setup, the market takeaway is straightforward: Salesforce appears increasingly focused on capturing more value from its data layer and ecosystem access—a move that can support monetization but also risks friction with partners or customers if not executed carefully.

Informatica is now in the model: the $8B deal has closed

Another material stock driver that is now “real,” not hypothetical: Salesforce completed its acquisition of Informatica on November 18, 2025. ^[12]

Salesforce has positioned the deal as foundational to scaling AI safely and effectively—because agents are only as good as the data foundation they can securely access. The company has also stated it expects non-GAAP operating margin and non-GAAP EPS accretion within 12 months, earlier than initially communicated at deal announcement. ^[13]

From an equity perspective, the Informatica close reshapes the debate in two ways:

Upside case: stronger data governance + integration improves AI agent outcomes, increases attach rates, and supports higher-value bundles.
Risk case: integration complexity and customer overlap may take longer than hoped, and “synergy timelines” can disappoint.

Additional current CRM news (Dec. 12 context): public sector wins and ecosystem expansion

Salesforce has continued to push “Agentforce” adoption stories across both enterprise and public sector.

U.S. Department of Transportation expansion

On December 11, Salesforce announced an expanded initiative with the U.S. Department of Transportation, including plans to deploy Agentforce for automation and operational support use cases (complaints/support, incident response alerts, grant processing workflows, and more). ^[14]

Agentforce 360 opened to builders and partners

Salesforce also highlighted expanding Agentforce 360 and related platform capabilities for partners, including flexible pricing models and marketplace distribution improvements. ^[15]

These aren’t single-quarter revenue drivers by themselves, but they feed a longer-term investor question: Is Salesforce building a defensible agent ecosystem the way it once built the CRM ecosystem?

Slack leadership change touches the Salesforce narrative

Separately, Wired reported that Slack CEO Denise Dresser is departing to become Chief Revenue Officer at OpenAI, with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff confirming the move internally and Slack’s CPO stepping in as interim CEO. (Slack is part of Salesforce.) ^[16]

This is not a core valuation driver on its own, but it adds to investor focus on execution and leadership continuity across Salesforce’s portfolio.

Salesforce stock forecast: what analysts are projecting now

Consensus remains broadly constructive, but the dispersion between bullish and bearish targets is wide—reflecting disagreement about how large and how fast AI monetization becomes.

Where the “average” target sits

One widely cited compilation shows an average price target around $324 (low $221 / high $405), implying roughly mid-20% upside from the low-$260s share price area. ^[17]
MarketBeat’s consensus snapshot is similar, with a consensus target in the mid-$320s range. ^[18]

Examples of notable recent calls

Morgan Stanley reportedly trimmed its target to $398 from $405 while keeping an Overweight stance following earnings-related estimate updates. ^[19]
Evercore ISI lowered its target to $340 while maintaining an Outperform rating after Q3. ^[20]
Bernstein maintained a more cautious posture, keeping an Underperform rating and a target in the low-$220s area (as reflected in multiple analyst-note summaries). ^[21]

What this mix typically signals: the Street generally likes Salesforce’s cash flow and capital return discipline, but there’s a real debate on (a) growth durability and (b) whether AI attach rates will meaningfully lift subscription growth versus simply protecting renewals.

The bull case for CRM stock into 2026

Investors leaning bullish generally point to five pillars:

AI momentum is measurable: Agentforce and related offerings have been cited as growing rapidly, with Salesforce highlighting ARR strength and expanding customer counts in the AI/data portfolio. ^[22]
Pipeline indicators look resilient: cRPO and RPO growth suggest a still-solid forward revenue base. ^[23]
Margin and cash flow strength: non-GAAP operating margin guidance and free cash flow trends keep Salesforce in the “quality compounder” bucket. ^[24]
Shareholder returns are significant: buybacks + dividends can provide downside support in choppy tape. ^[25]
Data foundation strengthened by Informatica: the acquisition is now closed, and Salesforce is explicitly tying it to Agentforce/Data 360 integration. ^[26]

The bear case: where skepticism is coming from

Skeptics tend to emphasize four risk zones:

AI willingness-to-pay is not guaranteed
A recent CIO survey summary highlighted concerns that customers may be selective about paying incremental dollars for CRM-provider AI, even as AI budgets rise overall. ^[27]
Pricing model uncertainty can slow adoption
The market is still sorting out whether AI agents are best monetized by seats, consumption, outcomes, or hybrids—creating friction for procurement and forecasting. ^[28]
Platform and ecosystem friction risk
If price changes around data access and partner economics are perceived as punitive, it could create pushback in the ecosystem over time. ^[29]
Security and third-party integration risk remains a headline risk
Reuters reported Salesforce investigated unusual activity involving Gainsight-published applications that may have enabled unauthorized access to certain customers’ Salesforce data (Salesforce said there was no indication the issue resulted from a platform vulnerability). ^[30]

What to watch next for Salesforce stock: catalysts and dates

Here are the practical catalysts investors are tracking from today’s vantage point:

Dividend timing: quarterly dividend of $0.416/share, payable Jan. 8, 2026, record date Dec. 18, 2025 ^[31]
Next earnings date: Salesforce has not published a universally “confirmed” next report date across all market calendars; estimates range from late February to early March 2026, depending on vendor. Nasdaq’s earnings page does not show a definitive upcoming date in its forecast section. ^[32]
Informatica integration milestones: how quickly Salesforce can unify governance, metadata, and integration into its Agentforce/Data 360 narrative. ^[33]
Agentforce monetization clarity: any updates on seat-based licensing, “credits,” caps, and the balance between predictability and upside. ^[34]
Partner ecosystem traction: adoption of Agentforce 360 by partners and the evolution of marketplace distribution mechanics. ^[35]

Bottom line (Dec. 12, 2025): CRM stock is being repriced around AI economics, not AI excitement

As of December 12, 2025, Salesforce stock is navigating a market that increasingly rewards credible unit economics over broad AI narratives.

The ValueAct-linked insider buy gives bulls a fresh confidence datapoint. ^[36]
The raised FY2026 guidance and strong cash flow keep Salesforce in the “high-quality mega-cap software” lane. ^[37]
But the next meaningful rerating—up or down—likely hinges on whether Salesforce can show that Agentforce is not only growing, but also priced in a way that scales profitably without triggering customer or partner backlash. ^[38]