Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Downgraded by Piper Sandler to Hold

Piper Sandler cut shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and issued a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $310.74.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7 %

CRM traded down $2.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $288.10. The stock had a trading volume of 3,597,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,491,262. Salesforce has a one year low of $193.68 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $275.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock's 50 day moving average is $261.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.17.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion during 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%. Salesforce's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $229,434.66. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,109 shares in the company, valued at $13,072,660.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.42, for a total transaction of $1,211,364.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 118,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,181,807.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $229,434.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,109 shares in the company, valued at $13,072,660.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 80,612 shares of company stock worth $21,283,087. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,905,462 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,922,223,000 after purchasing an additional 736,986 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 26.9% in 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 last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,251,592,000 after purchasing an additional 407,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after purchasing an additional 176,641 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by 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.