Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $345.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 24.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on CRM. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 18th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE CRM opened at $277.41 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $190.57 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $298.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total transaction of $2,841,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,323,891.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 897,375 shares of company stock valued at $260,206,096. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Riversedge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,499,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.