SAP (NYSE:SAP) Downgraded by StockNews.com

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

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

SAP Stock Performance

SAP stock opened at $175.77 on Thursday. SAP has a 1-year low of $126.40 and a 1-year high of $199.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $187.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $164.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.3852 per share. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. This represents a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. SAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.71%.

Institutional Trading of SAP

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in SAP by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 193,376 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,007,000 after acquiring an additional 19,080 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in SAP by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,361 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC grew its position in SAP by 2.8% in the third quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 6,183 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of SAP in the third quarter valued at $430,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of SAP by 68.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,547 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during 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.