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

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price was down 5.6% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $277.13 and last traded at $277.82. Approximately 5,571,831 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 5,511,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $294.32.

Specifically, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,928,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,823,539,948.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total value of $4,436,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,928,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. 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. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.7 %

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 50-day simple moving average of $298.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $269.09 billion, a PE ratio of 66.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. 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

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Graypoint LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp increased its stake 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 worth $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.