Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 1.2% on Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was down 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Loop Capital lowered their price target on the stock from $360.00 to $330.00. Loop Capital currently has a hold rating on the stock. Salesforce traded as low as $323.80 and last traded at $325.04. Approximately 1,114,803 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 6,084,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $328.96.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CRM. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp raised shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.84.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total transaction of $2,089,882.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,705,195. The trade was a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total value of $246,480.39. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,597,151.79. This trade represents a 13.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after buying an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,163,703,000 after acquiring an additional 177,321 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Salesforce by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $3,599,867,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $304.52. The stock has a market cap of $310.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.37, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.