Brokerages Set Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Price Target at $310.61

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $310.61.

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total transaction of $1,168,712.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total transaction of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,827,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total transaction of $1,168,712.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 620,793 shares of company stock worth $182,177,918 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Graypoint LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE CRM opened at $274.29 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $266.06 billion, a PE ratio of 65.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $295.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $264.30. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $190.76 and a 52 week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.