Parker Harris Sells 1,142 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Stock

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) insider Parker Harris sold 1,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total value of $299,603.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 136,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,895,776.40. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM traded up $8.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $271.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,707,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,509,943. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $296.11. The company has a market capitalization of $259.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. Salesforce's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 25.98%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 3.5% during the first quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 1,839 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 5.7% during the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 1,751 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the first quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 133,235 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $35,757,000 after purchasing an additional 6,681 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.4% during the first quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 7,987 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,143,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter worth about $60,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $404.00 price objective (up from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. DA Davidson reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $349.08.

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.

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