Bank of America Increases Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $325.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price objective increased by research analysts at Bank of America from $316.00 to $325.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 28.51% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (down from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $231.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.00.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $252.90 on Thursday. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.49, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 428,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $233.17 per share, for a total transaction of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $912,699,429.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.90, for a total transaction of $1,104,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $30,912,044.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 428,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $233.17 per share, with a total value of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,914,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $912,699,429.53. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 112,964 shares of company stock worth $27,956,647. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 5,659 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,489,000 after buying an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 16,576 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,362,000 after buying an additional 3,595 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,242 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $2,239,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.