Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Stephens

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was upgraded by analysts at Stephens to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

CRM has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.74.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $279.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $268.54 billion, a PE ratio of 45.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $315.19 and a 200 day moving average of $309.50. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 15,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.55, for a total transaction of $5,228,464.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,898,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $987,087,239.95. This represents a 0.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 16,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.68, for a total value of $5,616,791.16. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $566,210.16. This represents a 90.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,609 shares of company stock worth $24,920,821 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Salesforce by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after acquiring an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,163,703,000 after buying an additional 177,321 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.