Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $375.00 to $400.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 23.14% from the stock’s current price.

CRM has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.05.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:CRM opened at $324.84 on Wednesday. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $310.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.43, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $334.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $287.99.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.87, for a total transaction of $1,217,454.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 118,514 shares in the company, valued at $34,353,653.18. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,181,817 shares of company stock worth $404,760,429 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares in the last quarter. 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.