Piper Sandler Cuts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $400.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target lowered by Piper Sandler from $405.00 to $400.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CRM. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $330.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.32.

Salesforce Trading Down 4.1 %

Salesforce stock opened at $294.80 on Thursday. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $282.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $330.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $306.89.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.00, for a total transaction of $2,133,803.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,861 shares in the company, valued at $18,474,323. This trade represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock valued at $381,283,706. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and 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 in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.