Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a sector outperform rating and a $425.00 price objective on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Northland Capmk upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Phillip Securities reaffirmed an “accumulate” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $329.11.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of CRM opened at $336.19 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $321.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.20. Salesforce has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $348.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,741.74. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 133,183 shares of company stock valued at $38,314,066. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after buying an additional 864,193 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after acquiring an additional 407,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after purchasing an additional 314,530 shares during the last quarter. 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.