Westpark Capital Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Westpark Capital reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $320.00 price target on the CRM provider's stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $415.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho cut their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Macquarie restated a "neutral" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $367.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $342.90.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM traded down $8.67 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $267.36. The stock had a trading volume of 28,044,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,008,370. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $268.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $305.79. The company has a market capitalization of $257.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.42.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 26.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.44, for a total transaction of $197,005.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,323 shares in the company, valued at $2,605,219.12. This represents a 7.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total value of $543,263.22. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,310 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,218,599.80. The trade was a 14.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,553 shares of company stock worth $12,897,323. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% in 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 buying an additional 177,321 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after buying an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,599,867,000. 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.