Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Up 1% on Insider Buying Activity

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) was up 1% on Tuesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as high as $243.05 and last traded at $242.29. Approximately 912,471 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,867,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $239.94.

Specifically, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.75, for a total value of $1,267,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 105,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,936,314.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,599,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 541,787 shares of company stock valued at $149,773,683 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CRM. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Salesforce from $335.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.79.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $261.10 and a 200-day moving average of $276.56. The firm has a market cap of $234.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Graypoint LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,764,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,730,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. 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.