Oppenheimer Has Lowered Expectations for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price decreased by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from $415.00 to $380.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective points to a potential upside of 23.70% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $367.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.63.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $307.19 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $330.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $306.97. The company has a market capitalization of $293.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.00, for a total transaction of $2,133,803.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,474,323. The trade was a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 31,664 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,332,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 27.4% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Salesforce by 44.8% in the third quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 39,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $10,878,000 after purchasing an additional 12,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its stake in Salesforce by 57.2% during the third quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 9,491 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,453 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.