Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target Increased to $360.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $350.00 to $360.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $350.00 price target (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $276.19 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $267.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.76, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $296.65 and its 200 day moving average is $263.37. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $190.57 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.79, for a total value of $4,211,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,671,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,838,726,701.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 616,589 shares of company stock worth $181,071,306 in the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Red Tortoise LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.