Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 0.9% on Insider Selling

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) fell 0.9% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $272.35 and last traded at $273.14. 1,169,548 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 5,581,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $275.74.

Specifically, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total value of $2,188,439.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,903,561.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,075 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total value of $2,188,439.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,903,561.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total value of $287,743.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 610,793 shares of company stock valued at $179,197,018 over the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $264.12 billion, a PE ratio of 65.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $295.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $265.20.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after acquiring an additional 804,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 153.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,575 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares during 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.