Jefferies Financial Group Boosts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $360.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its target price lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $350.00 to $360.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Salesforce from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $360.00 price target (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Salesforce from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $276.19 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $267.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $190.57 and a 52-week high of $318.71. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $296.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.37.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total transaction of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,827,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total transaction of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,827,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.20, for a total transaction of $2,852,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,230,643.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 616,589 shares of company stock worth $181,071,306 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 333.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.