Short Interest in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Declines By 9.3%

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,650,000 shares, a decrease of 9.3% from the March 15th total of 10,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America increased their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Salesforce from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $306.26.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM traded down $21.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $272.75. The stock had a trading volume of 18,360,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,700,935. The firm has a market cap of $264.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.38, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $298.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $190.57 and a 52 week high of $318.71.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total value of $4,436,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,928,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,823,539,948.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $82,310,200.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 922,375 shares of company stock worth $266,955,446 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.