DA Davidson Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at DA Davidson from $300.00 to $275.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the CRM provider’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 8.36% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of 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. Citigroup reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Salesforce from $415.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.50.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock traded down $7.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $300.09. 11,467,547 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,591,242. The stock has a market cap of $287.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $330.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $306.97. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS 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 company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Miguel Milano sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $141,050.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,805,936.08. This trade represents a 7.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Salesforce by 926.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,422,979,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,173,564,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $733,805,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Salesforce by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.