Salesforce Receives Neutral Rating from Macquarie Analysts

On Thursday, research analysts at Macquarie began coverage of shares for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM). They set a "neutral" rating for the stock along with a price target of $370.00. This target indicates a potential upside of approximately 4.27% from Salesforce's current trading price.

Several other financial analysts have also provided insights on Salesforce. Notably, the Royal Bank of Canada raised its price estimate from $300.00 to $420.00, giving Salesforce an "outperform" rating. On the same day, December 4th, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating for the company, while JMP Securities maintained a "market outperform" rating and issued a price target of $450.00. Additionally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target from $340.00 to $380.00 and rated the stock as "overweight". Phillip Securities issued an "accumulate" rating with a target price of $305.00 on August 30th.

According to statistics from MarketBeat, the consensus rating for Salesforce is described as "Moderate Buy." Currently, nine analysts have rated the stock as a hold, while twenty-nine analysts have given it a buy rating, and four analysts have assigned it a strong buy designation. The average price target across analysts stands at $375.50.

Stock Performance Overview

On the day that the report was released, Salesforce shares opened at $354.85. The company's fifty-day moving average is $313.09, and the two-hundred-day moving average is $273.85. Salesforce exhibits a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, with current and quick ratios both at 1.11. The stock has fluctuated between a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00, giving it a market capitalization of approximately $339.59 billion. Salesforce's price-to-earnings ratio is 58.36, with a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce recently released its quarterly earnings on December 3rd, reporting earnings per share of $2.41, which fell short of the expected $2.44 by $0.03. The company achieved a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. Revenue for the quarter came in at $9.44 billion, surpassing analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. This is an improvement from the previous year, where the company earned $1.62 EPS and reported an 8.3% year-over-year revenue growth. Equities analysts project that Salesforce will report earnings of $7.48 per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In recent developments, certain insiders have also engaged in selling shares of Salesforce. Chief Accounting Officer Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares on October 23rd at an average price of $285.29, totaling around $117,824.77. This transaction resulted in a 5.57% decrease in his position. Additionally, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares on September 17th at an average price of $257.04, amounting to about $1,079,568.00. Following this sale, Harris retains 117,581 shares valued at approximately $30.23 million, reflecting a 3.45% decrease in ownership. Over the past three months, insiders have sold 138,498 shares for a total of around $40.98 million, with corporate insiders currently owning 3.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors' Actions

Institutional activities have also influenced Salesforce's stock performance, with various large investors adjusting their stakes. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc acquired a new position in Salesforce valued at $1,215,000 during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake by 13.6%, owning 58,036 shares now worth $15.88 million after buying more shares. Aljian Capital Management LLC raised its position by 16.1%, resulting in ownership of 13,258 shares valued at $3.63 million. AIA Group Ltd also augmented its holdings by 8.9%, now owning 24,028 shares worth $6.58 million. Geode Capital Management LLC made a less significant change, growing its ownership by 1.3% and holding 19,780,318 shares worth over $5.39 billion. Overall, institutional investors and hedge funds control 80.43% of Salesforce's shares.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc. is a company that specializes in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology, facilitating interactions between businesses and their customers globally. Their services incorporate sales functionalities for data storage, lead management, forecasting opportunities, and analytics, along with customer support tools that provide personalized service at scale.

Salesforce, Macquarie, Earnings