SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $283.40.

A number of research firms recently commented on SAP. Santander raised shares of SAP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of SAP from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of SAP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SAP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAP. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in SAP by 109.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in SAP during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Bayban bought a new stake in SAP during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in SAP during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Front Row Advisors LLC raised its holdings in SAP by 362.5% during the 1st quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 185 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period.

SAP Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of SAP stock opened at $164.33 on Friday. SAP has a 1 year low of $158.58 and a 1 year high of $313.28. The firm has a market cap of $201.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $173.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter. SAP had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 20.08%. Equities research analysts anticipate that SAP will post 8.37 EPS for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $2.9291 per share. This represents a yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.54. SAP’s payout ratio is presently 28.92%.

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.