Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target Lowered to $398.00 at Morgan Stanley

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $405.00 to $398.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Northland Securities increased their target price on Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.46.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

CRM opened at $260.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $244.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $244.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.18. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $221.96 and a twelve month high of $367.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total transaction of $31,598.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,085,096,889. This represents a 0.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 179,784 shares of company stock valued at $42,742,994 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after purchasing an additional 748,772 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after buying an additional 114,504 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. 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.