Guggenheim Reiterates Sell Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reiterated by research analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $247.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 18.57% from the stock’s previous close.

CRM has been the topic of a number of other reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $330.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.53.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM traded down $4.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $303.32. The company had a trading volume of 7,454,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,476,896. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $330.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $290.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.87, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This trade represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $1,894,000. Yoffe Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $313,000. LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $307,000. Finally, LM Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 17,378 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.