Sundeep G. Reddy Sells 500 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Stock

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total value of $167,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,202,758.58. This represents a 7.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded up $4.83 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $344.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,960,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,172,813. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $329.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $338.67 and a 200-day moving average of $298.64. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Salesforce by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

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.