Salesforce’s (CRM) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their neutral rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $300.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a sector weight rating for the company. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Salesforce from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $276.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $268.04 billion, a PE ratio of 65.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $190.57 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.89.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total transaction of $2,841,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 60,976 shares in the company, valued at $17,323,891.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider R David Schmaier sold 3,910 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total value of $1,074,350.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,347,848.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total transaction of $2,841,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,323,891.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 907,149 shares of company stock worth $262,952,448 over the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,626,413 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $22,005,454,000 after buying an additional 1,240,821 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,091,832,000 after buying an additional 391,648 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,147,402,000 after acquiring an additional 457,463 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,519,719,000 after acquiring an additional 149,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,926,323,000 after acquiring an additional 752,566 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.