JMP Securities Boosts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $342.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRMFree Report) had its price objective raised by JMP Securities from $293.00 to $342.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market outperform rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. TheStreet raised Salesforce from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Raymond James upped their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, November 30th. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $302.26.

View Our Latest Research Report on Salesforce

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $316.88 on Thursday. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $170.00 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $306.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $279.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $240.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.36, for a total value of $4,490,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,341,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,993,811,453.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.36, for a total value of $4,490,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,341,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,993,811,453.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.47, for a total value of $2,534,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,936,987.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,194,112 shares of company stock valued at $326,290,142 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Union Savings Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Aspect Partners LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. 77.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Company Profile

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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.

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