Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CAO Sundeep G. Reddy Sells 413 Shares

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:CRM opened at $284.37 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $275.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $268.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $263.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.68 and a 52 week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 Research Global Investors lifted its position 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 worth $4,329,925,000 after acquiring an additional 3,044,611 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 407,834 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after purchasing an additional 176,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,518,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Phillip Securities reiterated an “accumulate” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $311.66.

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.