Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target Cut to $310.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target cut by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $345.00 to $310.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 4.16% from the company’s previous close.

CRM has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $367.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.32.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.9 %

Salesforce stock opened at $297.63 on Thursday. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $284.83 billion, a PE ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $329.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.21.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $190,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $284,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $392,649,000. Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,921,000. Finally, Brucke Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $1,449,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.