Salesforce’s (CRM) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $370.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Salesforce from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $346.34.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:CRM opened at $266.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $254.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $227.77 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $267.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.72.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total value of $543,263.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,218,599.80. The trade was a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Millham sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $1,120,391.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,570,312.44. This represents a 41.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,332 shares of company stock valued at $11,024,802 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.