Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 0.2% Higher

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) shares shot up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $278.94 and last traded at $277.33. 918,412 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,657,781 shares. The stock had previously closed at $276.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $267.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $296.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. 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 posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.79, for a total value of $4,211,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,671,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,838,726,701.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.79, for a total value of $4,211,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,671,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,838,726,701.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total value of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 616,589 shares of company stock worth $181,071,306. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the first quarter. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1,753.3% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 27,447 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,266,000 after buying an additional 25,966 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.3% in the first quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 51,438 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,492,000 after buying an additional 2,144 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,352 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 27.0% in the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $858,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.