Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $240.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CRM. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered Salesforce from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $278.00 in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Salesforce from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $240.59.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $215.02 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $218.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.68. The company has a market cap of $209.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $126.34 and a 12 month high of $238.22.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 30th. The CRM provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.22. Salesforce had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 4.77%. The business had revenue of $8.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 5.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Brent Hyder sold 48,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.50, for a total value of $10,795,245.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,418 shares in the company, valued at $2,086,087. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Brent Hyder sold 48,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.50, for a total transaction of $10,795,245.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,418 shares in the company, valued at $2,086,087. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 1,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.63, for a total value of $366,013.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,164.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 633,071 shares of company stock worth $138,539,253 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Salesforce by 92,823.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 238,763,957 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $50,441,274,000 after purchasing an additional 238,507,009 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,653,307 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,644,718,000 after purchasing an additional 143,962 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,357,722 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,263,546,000 after purchasing an additional 695,355 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Salesforce by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,242,436 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,065,157,000 after purchasing an additional 4,458,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,519,719,000 after purchasing an additional 149,012 shares during the last quarter. 77.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 relationship intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer service and support at scale.