Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 55,531 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average volume of 42,522 call options.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.04, for a total value of $1,251,768.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,586,572.08. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,173,891 shares of company stock worth $402,840,388. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after acquiring an additional 998,628 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Up 4.9 %

NYSE CRM traded up $16.50 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $350.38. 8,631,077 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,438,845. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $336.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.60. Salesforce has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $335.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.69, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

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.