Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Receives $310.61 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $310.61.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush raised their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE CRM opened at $273.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $264.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.02, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $296.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.44. Salesforce has a one year low of $190.57 and a one year high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $287,743.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,040,011.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $287,743.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,040,011.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total value of $4,733,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,311,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,200,205,319.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 620,793 shares of company stock valued at $182,177,918 in the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its position in Salesforce by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Riversedge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 420 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.