Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Earns Buy Rating from Westpark Capital

Westpark Capital reissued their buy rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $320.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Salesforce from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Salesforce from $367.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $255.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.32.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $265.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $304.75. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $216.06 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $254.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.42. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $543,263.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,218,599.80. This trade represents a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total value of $931,430.34. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 125,146 shares in the company, valued at $35,614,048.68. This trade represents a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,553 shares of company stock worth $12,897,323 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after buying an additional 1,383,942 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,163,703,000 after purchasing an additional 177,321 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $3,599,867,000. 80.43% of the stock is 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.