Short Interest in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Increases By 25.8%

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,841,263 shares, an increase of 25.8% from the December 15th total of 1,463,098 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 983,266 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Based on an average daily volume of 983,266 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

SAP Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:SAP traded down $2.17 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $233.67. 1,883,265 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,194,106. The stock has a market cap of $286.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.18. SAP has a fifty-two week low of $231.91 and a fifty-two week high of $313.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $243.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $10.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.10 billion. SAP had a net margin of 19.50% and a return on equity of 15.69%. SAP’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SAP will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SAP. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in SAP by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at about $242,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SAP by 49.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,309 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,378,000 after purchasing an additional 5,363 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SAP during the first quarter worth about $2,681,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of SAP by 2.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of SAP to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SAP has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $280.20.

About SAP

SAP SE is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers, the company’s name is an acronym for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing). SAP develops and sells software and services that help organizations manage business processes across finance, human resources, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and customer relationships.

SAP’s product portfolio spans on?premises and cloud offerings, anchored by its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions such as SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA in?memory database and platform.