Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) CAO Sells $68,473.35 in Stock

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 261 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $68,473.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,024 shares in the company, valued at $3,154,496.40. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded up $8.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $271.43. 9,707,487 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,509,943. The stock has a market capitalization of $259.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.38. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $268.69 and a 200 day moving average of $296.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $349.08.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after buying an additional 1,383,942 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,656,078,000 after purchasing an additional 175,035 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,163,703,000 after purchasing an additional 177,321 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,599,867,000. 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.

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