Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Rating Reiterated by Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $365.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and set a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut Salesforce from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE CRM opened at $271.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Salesforce has a one year low of $190.57 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.69 billion, a PE ratio of 64.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total value of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 628,184 shares of company stock valued at $184,794,698. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Riversedge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 21.7% during the third quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,499,000. 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.