JMP Securities Reaffirms “Market Outperform” Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

JMP Securities reaffirmed their market outperform rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $342.00 target price on the CRM provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Salesforce from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $276.33 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $298.10 and its 200 day moving average is $260.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $268.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.79, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $190.57 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 3,910 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total transaction of $1,074,350.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,347,848.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 907,149 shares of company stock valued at $262,952,448. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Riversedge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,499,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.