Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Shares Gap Down to $294.32

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $294.32, but opened at $282.94. Salesforce shares last traded at $284.16, with a volume of 2,568,332 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Salesforce from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $306.26.

Salesforce Stock Performance

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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $298.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $264.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued 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 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $82,310,200.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $82,310,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.28, for a total transaction of $2,702,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,861 shares in the company, valued at $16,179,231.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 922,375 shares of company stock worth $266,955,446 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $1,420,381,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 125,717.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,260,412 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,360,428,000 after buying an additional 10,252,257 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Salesforce by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,607,493,000 after buying an additional 5,935,973 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position 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 worth $916,693,000 after buying an additional 3,226,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Starboard Value LP purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $401,215,000. Institutional investors 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.