Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price was down 0.1% on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $299.63 and last traded at $301.18. Approximately 4,892,275 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 6,832,268 shares. The stock had previously closed at $301.38.

Specifically, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total transaction of $4,733,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,311,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,200,205,319.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total value of $4,733,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,311,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,200,205,319.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.82, for a total transaction of $2,538,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,193,919.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 901,258 shares of company stock worth $256,569,563 in the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer increased 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. TheStreet raised Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.32.

Salesforce Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $292.14 billion, a PE ratio of 71.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $294.19 and a 200 day moving average of $252.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 463.1% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,283 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Pointe Capital Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 370.0% during the 2nd quarter. Pointe Capital Management LLC now owns 1,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 72.3% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 29,481 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,978,000 after purchasing an additional 12,371 shares during the period. Finally, BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $341,000. 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.