Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $300.00 price target on the CRM provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.54% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CRM. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.00.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $266.57 on Thursday. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $254.14 and its 200 day moving average is $266.67. The company has a market cap of $258.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.94, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares in the company, valued at $5,368,357.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,576 shares of company stock valued at $16,957,573. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors raised its position in Salesforce by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,607,493,000 after buying an additional 5,935,973 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position 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 valued at $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $910,220,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth about $874,748,000. Finally, Coatue Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $564,188,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.