Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the CRM provider on Thursday, January 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%.

Salesforce has a dividend payout ratio of 14.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Salesforce to earn $8.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.0%.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded down $6.73 on Thursday, reaching $361.14. 10,934,598 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,414,619. The firm has a market cap of $345.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $308.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.43. Salesforce has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,702.68. This trade represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,741.74. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,982 shares of company stock valued at $41,591,457. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.86.

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.