Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 0.1% – What’s Next?

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) fell 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $323.00 and last traded at $326.18. 1,830,425 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 6,135,591 shares. The stock had previously closed at $326.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $336.04 and its 200-day moving average is $303.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $314.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.05, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total transaction of $167,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,202,758.58. This represents a 7.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This trade represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.