Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $255.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $310.00 to $255.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CRM. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $393.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.37.

Salesforce Trading Up 5.5 %

CRM opened at $264.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.44.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.18, for a total value of $2,041,607.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at $15,342,415. This represents a 11.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total value of $167,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,557 shares in the company, valued at $2,202,758.58. The trade was a 7.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,051 shares of company stock worth $15,027,714. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,656,078,000 after purchasing an additional 175,035 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,163,703,000 after buying an additional 177,321 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,988,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.