Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Lifted to “Overweight” at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $325.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $268.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $345.00 to $300.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $355.00 to $305.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $308.03.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $276.51 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $255.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.79. The stock has a market cap of $267.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.73, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce has a fifty-two week low of $193.68 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director Maynard G. Webb, Jr. sold 9,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.32, for a total value of $2,533,854.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,363 shares in the company, valued at $376,624.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maynard G. Webb, Jr. sold 9,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.32, for a total value of $2,533,854.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,363 shares in the company, valued at $376,624.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,185 shares of company stock valued at $18,708,571. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,147,402,000 after buying an additional 457,463 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,905,462 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,922,223,000 after buying an additional 736,986 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Salesforce by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after buying an additional 3,044,611 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after purchasing an additional 407,834 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently 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.