BMO Capital Markets Cuts Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Price Target to $375.00

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target lowered by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $425.00 to $375.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CRM. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.53.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $7.84 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $310.59. 3,202,006 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,116,491. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $334.23 and a 200-day moving average of $304.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $297.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total value of $246,480.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,597,151.79. The trade was a 13.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,102,833 shares of company stock worth $381,389,136. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 864,193 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,163,703,000 after acquiring an additional 177,321 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $3,599,867,000. 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.