Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 5.6% on Insider Selling

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) fell 5.6% on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $277.13 and last traded at $277.82. 5,571,831 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 5,511,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $294.32.

Specifically, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total transaction of $4,110,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,761,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,770,697,095.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.75, for a total transaction of $1,267,350.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 105,837 shares in the company, valued at $31,936,314.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total value of $4,110,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,761,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,770,697,095.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 897,375 shares of company stock valued at $260,206,096 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Argus upped their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $269.09 billion, a PE ratio of 66.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $298.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $260.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $214,000. Riversedge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 21.7% in the third quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter worth $2,499,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 47.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after purchasing an additional 804,634 shares in 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.