Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $345.00 to $310.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.91% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.55.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $307.19 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $330.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $306.97. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS 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 company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $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 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 31,664 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,332,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 39,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $10,878,000 after acquiring an additional 12,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 9,491 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,453 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.