Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 1% Higher

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s stock price shot up 1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $276.90 and last traded at $275.83. 990,573 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 5,627,529 shares. The stock had previously closed at $273.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $266.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $295.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $264.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total value of $4,149,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,782,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,536,230,764.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total value of $4,149,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,782,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,536,230,764.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 620,793 shares of company stock worth $182,177,918. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings 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 worth $9,268,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 47.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.