Salesforce’s (CRM) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.32.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:CRM opened at $297.63 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $329.11 and its 200-day moving average is $307.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current 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 has a market cap of $284.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 14.2% during the third quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 31,664 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,332,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 39,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $10,878,000 after purchasing an additional 12,294 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 9,491 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,453 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.