Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-one brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have issued a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $378.86.

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.42, for a total value of $1,211,364.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 118,514 shares in the company, valued at $34,181,807.88. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 6,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.75, for a total transaction of $1,785,149.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 969 shares in the company, valued at $280,767.75. The trade was a 86.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,186,017 shares of company stock worth $405,971,793 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 63.0% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,820 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,496,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $569,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 3.3% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 320,341 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $82,360,000 after acquiring an additional 10,235 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 2,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,722 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,985,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $332.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $318.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.75, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $332.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $286.42. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.32%.

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.