Loop Capital Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target boosted by Loop Capital from $270.00 to $340.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $322.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $325.26 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $266.61. The company has a market cap of $310.95 billion, a PE ratio of 56.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $348.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 144,373 shares of company stock worth $41,250,680 over the last ninety 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 made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,290,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 6,007 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,644,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Salesforce by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 193,314 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $52,912,000 after purchasing an additional 10,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 1,037 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.