Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Cut to Sell at Guggenheim

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was downgraded by equities researchers at Guggenheim from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $247.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 23.96% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CRM. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.39.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $324.84 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock has a market cap of $310.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $334.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $287.99.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its 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). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value 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. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 1,181,817 shares of company stock worth $404,760,429 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 16.1% in the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.