Macquarie Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Macquarie in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $370.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock. Macquarie’s price target suggests a potential upside of 6.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.86.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $2.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $347.95. 3,647,303 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,393,679. The company has a market capitalization of $332.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 5,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.22, for a total value of $1,526,771.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,663 shares in the company, valued at $442,723.86. This represents a 77.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.78, for a total transaction of $249,422.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 118,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,380,136.92. This represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,298 shares of company stock valued at $39,903,781 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $733,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,518,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after buying an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 51.0% during the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,946,838 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $757,632,000 after buying an additional 994,670 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.