Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) gapped down before the market opened on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $278.57, but opened at $270.93. Salesforce shares last traded at $270.42, with a volume of 1,722,592 shares traded.

Specifically, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $287,743.32. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.59, for a total value of $731,289.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,858,365.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 636,344 shares of company stock worth $184,877,874 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CRM. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. KeyCorp started coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.94.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $262.59 billion, a PE ratio of 64.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $287.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $273.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $506,875,000 after acquiring an additional 804,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 821,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $166,637,000 after acquiring an additional 6,888 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.