SAP (NYSE:SAP) Downgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of SAP (NYSE:SAP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on SAP from $185.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on SAP from $189.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on SAP from $147.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on SAP in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised SAP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $193.80.

SAP Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SAP opened at $178.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. SAP has a 52-week low of $126.40 and a 52-week high of $199.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $187.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.55.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The software maker reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. SAP had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 9.54%. Equities analysts predict that SAP will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.3852 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. SAP’s dividend payout ratio is 27.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SAP

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of SAP by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 835 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in SAP by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,509 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in SAP by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,437 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in SAP by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 2,041 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in SAP by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,361 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter.

About SAP

SAP SE, together with its subsidiaries, provides applications, technology, and services worldwide. It offers SAP S/4HANA that provides software capabilities for finance, risk and project management, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and asset management, and research and development; SAP SuccessFactors solutions for human resources, including HR and payroll, talent and employee experience management, and people and workforce analytics; and spend management solutions that covers direct and indirect spend, travel and expense, and external workforce management.