Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target raised by Scotiabank from $425.00 to $440.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 22.47% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on CRM. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. FBN Securities raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.56.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM traded up $27.84 on Wednesday, reaching $359.27. The stock had a trading volume of 9,050,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,322,121. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $343.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $304.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.14. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $368.70.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,702.68. This trade represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,982 shares of company stock valued at $41,591,457. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.5% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,797 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. EWA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 7,708 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $891,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Nvwm LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 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.