Salesforce’s (CRM) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $345.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the topic of several other research reports. Wedbush lifted their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $293.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $276.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $268.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $190.57 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $82,310,200.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 907,149 shares of company stock worth $262,952,448. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,420,381,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 125,717.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,260,412 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,360,428,000 after purchasing an additional 10,252,257 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,607,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,935,973 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Starboard Value LP bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $401,215,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.