Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Trading 0.1% Higher

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 0.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $272.99 and last traded at $272.19. 959,974 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,644,093 shares. The stock had previously closed at $271.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Salesforce from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $360.00 target price (up from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Nine 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $262.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.39, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. 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 fifty day moving average price is $297.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $261.43.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.83, for a total transaction of $4,152,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,857,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,559,293,833.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.83, for a total transaction of $4,152,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,857,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,559,293,833.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 628,184 shares of company stock worth $184,794,698 over the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 0.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $9,091,832,000 after acquiring an additional 391,648 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 5.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.