Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CAO Sells $20,160.36 in Stock

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 66 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $20,160.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,574.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $301.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $292.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $294.19 and its 200 day moving average is $252.10. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.31 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,701 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $974,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,856,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $37,128,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 201,936 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $53,137,000 after purchasing an additional 20,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $1,497,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Salesforce from $293.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet raised Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Salesforce from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Nine 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.32.

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.