Salesforce’s (CRM) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $345.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $316.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $302.00.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $252.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $254.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.20. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $193.68 and a 1 year high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.97, for a total value of $1,104,474.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,920,275.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.97, for a total value of $1,104,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,920,275.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.95, for a total transaction of $771,495.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $977,122.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 112,964 shares of company stock worth $27,956,647 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,147,402,000 after acquiring an additional 457,463 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after acquiring an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after acquiring an additional 3,044,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after purchasing an additional 407,834 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Salesforce

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.