Salesforce Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 74,351 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 14% compared to the average daily volume of 65,493 call options.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $245.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $237.41 billion, a PE ratio of 44.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $262.47 and a 200-day moving average of $276.32. Salesforce has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.86, for a total transaction of $4,587,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,071,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,997,946,832.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.86, for a total value of $4,587,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,071,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,997,946,832.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.64, for a total value of $1,437,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,855 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,642,732.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 575,989 shares of company stock worth $160,340,775. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management raised its holdings in Salesforce by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised 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 acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 18,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Salesforce by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $207,756,000 after acquiring an additional 194,224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush cut their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Macquarie cut their target price on Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their target price on Salesforce from $355.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.79.

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.