Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Stock analysts at Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a “sector outperform” rating and a $425.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target suggests a potential upside of 31.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Phillip Securities reaffirmed an “accumulate” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, August 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.36.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $323.29 on Monday. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $348.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $289.68 and its 200-day moving average is $267.31. The stock has a market cap of $309.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,702.68. The trade was a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,173 shares of company stock valued at $40,146,206 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invst LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 17,003 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,654,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 5.5% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 193,314 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $52,912,000 after buying an additional 10,084 shares during the period. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.5% in the third quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,541 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 112.8% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 16,883 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,621,000 after acquiring an additional 8,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently 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.