Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 0.9% After Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price dropped 0.9% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $272.35 and last traded at $273.14. Approximately 1,169,548 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 5,581,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $275.74.

Specifically, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,075 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total value of $2,188,439.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,483 shares in the company, valued at $11,903,561.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.79, for a total transaction of $4,121,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,737,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,500,090,086.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,075 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,483 shares in the company, valued at $11,903,561.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 610,793 shares of company stock worth $179,074,618. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (up from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.5 %

The company has a market cap of $260.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.03, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $295.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $265.65.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vicus Capital raised its stake in Salesforce by 153.2% during the third quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,575 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 128,690 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $26,096,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 22.3% during the third quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,223 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.0% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,205,319 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,194,000 after buying an additional 63,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 12.1% during the third quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 4,075 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $826,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. 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.