Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Down 0.7%

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price fell 0.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $249.20 and last traded at $250.74. 1,371,814 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 6,662,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $252.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $231.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price (down previously from $360.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $345.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, May 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.79.

Salesforce Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $273.77. The company has a market capitalization of $242.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 28.78%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.66, for a total transaction of $3,249,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,407,327 shares in the company, valued at $2,688,171,467.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.66, for a total value of $3,249,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,407,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,688,171,467.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,644,921.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 217,842 shares of company stock valued at $56,830,383 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management increased its position in Salesforce by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,951,415 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,566,055,000 after buying an additional 18,397 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $207,756,000 after buying an additional 194,224 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.