Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective boosted by Wedbush from $325.00 to $375.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $270.00 to $400.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Capmk upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 price target on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $339.66.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.8 %

Salesforce stock opened at $339.12 on Monday. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $348.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $324.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $296.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $268.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 144,510 shares of company stock worth $42,475,538. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $874,748,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $733,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Salesforce by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,518,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,674 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in Salesforce by 376.1% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,442,453 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $370,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Salesforce by 171.2% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.