Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 30.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CRM. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $371.63.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $307.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $293.98 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $330.86 and a 200-day moving average of $306.97.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.00, for a total value of $2,133,803.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,474,323. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

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