Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective lifted by Needham & Company LLC from $375.00 to $400.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 23.14% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CRM. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.05.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $324.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $310.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $334.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.99. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total transaction of $614,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,116 shares in the company, valued at $6,575,904. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,181,817 shares of company stock worth $404,760,429 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 13.6% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 16.1% in the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.