Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Up 0.9%

Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) were up 0.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $261.61 and last traded at $260.13. Approximately 1,083,080 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 6,746,185 shares. The stock had previously closed at $257.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on CRM shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (down previously from $360.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Salesforce from $355.00 to $295.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Macquarie dropped their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.79.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $250.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $275.37. 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 stock has a market cap of $250.78 billion, a PE ratio of 46.79, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 428,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $233.17 per share, for a total transaction of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $912,699,429.53. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 428,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $233.17 per share, for a total transaction of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $912,699,429.53. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.90, for a total value of $4,303,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,512,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,589,786,616.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 294,242 shares of company stock worth $78,057,091. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,490,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,841 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% in 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,926,323,000 after acquiring an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% in the first 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 period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after acquiring an additional 407,834 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.