Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 0.7% Following Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) dropped 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $296.41 and last traded at $297.48. Approximately 750,843 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 5,506,233 shares. The stock had previously closed at $299.62.

Specifically, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.69, for a total value of $4,090,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,806,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,803,406.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 907,375 shares of company stock worth $262,118,396 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.97.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $298.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.08. The firm has a market cap of $288.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,626,413 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $22,005,454,000 after buying an additional 1,240,821 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,091,832,000 after purchasing an additional 391,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,147,402,000 after purchasing an additional 457,463 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,519,719,000 after purchasing an additional 149,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after purchasing an additional 752,566 shares in the last quarter. 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.