Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $278.57, but opened at $270.93. Salesforce shares last traded at $270.42, with a volume of 1,722,592 shares traded.

Specifically, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.46, for a total transaction of $4,506,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,371,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,500,536.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 6,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.41, for a total transaction of $1,746,372.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.46, for a total value of $4,506,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,371,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,500,536.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 636,344 shares of company stock worth $184,877,874. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.94.

Salesforce Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $263.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $286.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,762,331,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,607,493,000 after acquiring an additional 5,935,973 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $916,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after acquiring an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $910,220,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

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.