Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Now Covered by Scotiabank

Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm issued a sector outperform rating and a $425.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock.

CRM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities raised shares of Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Northland Capmk raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.36.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $322.25 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $288.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $266.96. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $348.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $308.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 2,934 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.95, for a total transaction of $771,495.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $977,122.20. This trade represents a 44.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,173 shares of company stock worth $40,146,206 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $874,748,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $733,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Salesforce by 48.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Salesforce by 376.1% in the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,442,453 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $370,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,472 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.