Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target Raised to $390.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective boosted by Bank of America from $325.00 to $390.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the subject of several other reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $325.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.57, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $348.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $286.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $266.64.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $30,920,275.57. This trade represents a 3.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,373 shares of company stock worth $41,250,680 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Salesforce by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after buying an additional 3,044,611 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $910,220,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $874,748,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter worth approximately $733,805,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Salesforce by 48.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is 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.