Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price traded down 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $331.20 and last traded at $332.78. 1,223,247 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 6,379,467 shares. The stock had previously closed at $334.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.86.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $314.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.04, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $331.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 6,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.75, for a total transaction of $1,785,149.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,767.75. This represents a 86.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.42, for a total transaction of $1,211,364.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 118,514 shares in the company, valued at $34,181,807.88. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,186,017 shares of company stock worth $405,971,793. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after buying an additional 1,922,674 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after buying an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after buying an additional 998,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 51.0% during the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,946,838 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $757,632,000 after acquiring an additional 994,670 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.