Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Truist Financial

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $315.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $300.00. Truist Financial’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.17% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CRM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.00.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.2 %

Salesforce stock opened at $266.57 on Thursday. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $193.68 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The stock has a market cap of $258.31 billion, a PE ratio of 47.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $254.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,576 shares of company stock valued at $16,957,573. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,147,402,000 after purchasing an additional 457,463 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,905,462 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,922,223,000 after purchasing an additional 736,986 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after purchasing an additional 407,834 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.