Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 0.6% Following Insider Selling
Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) fell 0.6% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $299.25 and last traded at $299.93. 722,542 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 5,579,500 shares. The stock had previously closed at $301.73.
Specifically, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.69, for a total transaction of $4,090,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,806,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,803,406.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 903,175 shares of company stock valued at $260,284,196 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $293.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet raised shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Nine 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.97.
View Our Latest Analysis on CRM
Salesforce Trading Down 0.5 %
The company’s fifty day moving average price is $297.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $257.11. 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 $291.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.28.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given 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 yield of 0.53%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 9.52%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Graypoint LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.
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