Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

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

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on CRM. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, April 12th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Nine 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $271.85 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $260.97. The company has a market cap of $263.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $190.57 and a 1 year high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider R David Schmaier sold 3,910 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total transaction of $1,074,350.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,347,848.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 3,910 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total transaction of $1,074,350.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,347,848.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 628,184 shares of company stock valued at $184,794,698. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,626,413 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $22,005,454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,821 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,091,832,000 after purchasing an additional 391,648 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,147,402,000 after purchasing an additional 457,463 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,519,719,000 after purchasing an additional 149,012 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after purchasing an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.