Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report)’s stock price was down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $276.71 and last traded at $277.14. Approximately 864,916 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,387,200 shares. The stock had previously closed at $277.52.Specifically, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,075 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total transaction of $2,188,439.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 38,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,903,561.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,075 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,483 shares in the company, valued at $11,903,561.56. The transaction 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 Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $287,743.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,040,011.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 614,193 shares of company stock worth $178,936,148 over the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.
View Our Latest Research Report on Salesforce
Salesforce Price Performance
The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.59. 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 $267.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.99, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.30.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.52%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $2,762,331,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,607,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,935,973 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $916,693,000 after buying an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter worth approximately $910,220,000. Finally, Coatue Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $564,188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.
Further Reading
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