Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading Down 4% – Here’s Why

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) traded down 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $272.52 and last traded at $273.30. 1,978,145 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 6,978,292 shares. The stock had previously closed at $284.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CRM shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.62.

Salesforce Trading Down 5.1 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $259.60 billion, a PE ratio of 44.44, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.78, for a total transaction of $320,072.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 120,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,886,746.74. This represents a 0.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,108,793 shares of company stock worth $383,156,227 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after purchasing an additional 175,035 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,163,703,000 after acquiring an additional 177,321 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $3,599,867,000. 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.