Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 0.7% After Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price fell 0.7% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $254.54 and last traded at $255.30. 1,626,063 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 6,943,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $257.10.

Specifically, COO Brian Millham sold 2,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $524,680.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 2,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $524,680.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 494,952 shares of company stock worth $135,205,453 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $330.00 to $285.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Salesforce from $355.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.79.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $248.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $259.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $276.46.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.13 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 7.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,147,402,000 after buying an additional 457,463 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Salesforce by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,251,592,000 after buying an additional 407,834 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.