SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $193.80.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SAP shares. KeyCorp initiated coverage on SAP in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $189.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on SAP from $147.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded SAP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

SAP Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of SAP stock opened at $178.18 on Tuesday. SAP has a fifty-two week low of $126.75 and a fifty-two week high of $199.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.67, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $187.13 and a 200 day moving average of $164.72.

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

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $2.3852 per share. This is a boost from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. SAP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SAP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAP. Capital International Investors increased its stake in SAP by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,947,613 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,537,251,000 after purchasing an additional 746,386 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of SAP by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,864,247 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $758,364,000 after buying an additional 122,135 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in SAP by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,362,893 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $305,569,000 after acquiring an additional 38,625 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in SAP by 213.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,420,255 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $183,507,000 after acquiring an additional 966,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in SAP by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,086,658 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $167,987,000 after acquiring an additional 26,031 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.