Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Research analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.24.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $182.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.91 billion, a PE ratio of 871.00, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.21. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $126.34 and a 12 month high of $222.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.45.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The CRM provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $8.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.99 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 4.48% and a net margin of 0.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 10.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 186 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.59, for a total transaction of $28,939.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,066.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 924 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.55, for a total transaction of $118,780.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,807 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,339.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 186 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.59, for a total transaction of $28,939.74. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,273 shares in the company, valued at $198,066.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,543 shares of company stock valued at $6,510,119 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,449,523 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,571,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,103,556 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Salesforce by 40.6% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 46,707,038 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,708,529,000 after acquiring an additional 13,483,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,825,733 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,447,733,000 after acquiring an additional 585,881 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Salesforce by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,519,719,000 after acquiring an additional 149,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,416,910 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,304,561,000 after acquiring an additional 450,250 shares in the last quarter. 75.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Company Profile

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Salesforce, Inc engages in the design and development of cloud-based enterprise software for customer relationship management. Its solutions include sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation, digital commerce, community management, collaboration, industry-specific solutions, and salesforce platform.