Salesforce’s (CRM) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their overweight rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $325.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Stephens lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $349.08.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $260.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $249.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.38. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $230.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Brian Millham sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $1,120,391.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 5,518 shares in the company, valued at $1,570,312.44. The trade was a 41.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $137,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,220,525. This trade represents a 4.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,111 shares of company stock valued at $9,299,283 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after buying an additional 1,383,942 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after purchasing an additional 175,035 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,163,703,000 after purchasing an additional 177,321 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.