Citigroup Lowers Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $350.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Citigroup from $390.00 to $350.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.93% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on CRM. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $374.47.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.4 %

CRM opened at $307.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $330.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $306.97. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its 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). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was 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 valued at $381,283,706 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Salesforce by 926.4% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,422,979,000 after buying an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,173,564,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $733,805,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.