Insider Selling: Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) COO Sells 5,801 Shares of Stock

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) COO Brian Millham sold 5,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.10, for a total transaction of $1,619,059.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,173,336.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Brian Millham also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 1st, Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of Salesforce stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24.
• On Monday, March 25th, Brian Millham sold 1,679 shares of Salesforce stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $512,867.34.
• On Friday, March 22nd, Brian Millham sold 14,516 shares of Salesforce stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total transaction of $4,490,089.12.
• On Thursday, February 22nd, Brian Millham sold 14,517 shares of Salesforce stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.50, for a total transaction of $4,246,222.50.
• On Wednesday, January 24th, Brian Millham sold 393 shares of Salesforce stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $110,040.00.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $276.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $267.90 billion, a PE ratio of 65.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.57 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.37.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,762,331,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Salesforce by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,607,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,935,973 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $916,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,512 shares during the period. Coatue Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $564,188,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Salesforce by 110.3% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,394,912 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $893,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780,421 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

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.