Insider Selling: Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CFO Sells $287,743.32 in Stock

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total value of $287,743.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $301.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 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 fifty day moving average of $294.19 and a 200 day moving average of $252.10. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.31 and a 1 year high of $318.71.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 463.1% during the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,283 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Pointe Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 12,371 shares during the period. Finally, BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $341,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. KeyCorp began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Salesforce from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.