Investors Purchase High Volume of Salesforce Call Options (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 275,728 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 470% compared to the typical volume of 48,414 call options.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $234.44 on Friday. Salesforce has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.17, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $281.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $275.97.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The business had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $1,258,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 104,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,429,238.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.66, for a total transaction of $3,249,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,407,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,688,171,467.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $1,258,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 104,904 shares in the company, valued at $31,429,238.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 638,070 shares of company stock worth $182,912,726 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 457,463 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after buying an additional 3,044,611 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after buying an additional 407,834 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their target price on Salesforce from $355.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.79.

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.