Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $333.44 and last traded at $330.96. Approximately 725,261 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 2,714,350 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.86.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.7 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $332.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $286.42. The company has a market capitalization of $318.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 6,161 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.75, for a total transaction of $1,785,149.75. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,767.75. This represents a 86.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.42, for a total value of $1,211,364.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 118,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,181,807.88. This represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,186,017 shares of company stock valued at $405,971,793 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,360,215,000 after acquiring an additional 314,530 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after acquiring an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,632,599,000 after purchasing an additional 57,825 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.