Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 0.1% on Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price traded down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $299.63 and last traded at $301.21. 1,034,439 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 5,699,528 shares. The stock had previously closed at $301.38.

Specifically, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 12,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.94, for a total transaction of $3,245,250.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,062,156.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 12,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.94, for a total value of $3,245,250.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,979 shares in the company, valued at $10,062,156.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.58, for a total value of $2,585,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 59,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,478,857.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 898,507 shares of company stock valued at $255,293,063. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 30th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (up from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Salesforce from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.32.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.0 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $293.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.75. 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 company has a market cap of $292.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,468 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,037 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,104,000 after acquiring an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth $455,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 860,950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $182,797,000 after purchasing an additional 151,440 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.