Macquarie Reiterates Neutral Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Macquarie reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Macquarie currently has a $370.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CRM. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.86.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:CRM opened at $343.65 on Wednesday. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $323.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $328.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.52, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.78, for a total value of $249,422.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 118,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,380,136.92. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,189,056 shares of company stock valued at $405,093,170 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter worth $41,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,830 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,041,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS raised its stake in Salesforce by 165.2% during the second quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 11,483 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 7,153 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 18.8% in the second quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 33.7% during the second quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 904 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.