Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Insider Parker Harris Sells 4,200 Shares

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.50, for a total transaction of $1,287,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 105,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,439,040.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Parker Harris also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 19th, Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $1,258,320.00.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $301.41 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $293.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.75. The firm has a market cap of $292.37 billion, a PE ratio of 71.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.31 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,626,413 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $22,005,454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,821 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,653,307 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,644,718,000 after acquiring an additional 143,962 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,147,402,000 after acquiring an additional 457,463 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,519,719,000 after acquiring an additional 149,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.