SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on SAP, with 13 buy, eight hold and one strong-buy rating among 22 firms. The average 12-month price target is $255.67, above the reported $218.19 share price.
• Several institutional investors increased their SAP holdings, including Bank of America, Tidal Investments and Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb; Arrowstreet Capital and Norges Bank also initiated new positions.
• SAP’s latest quarterly revenue rose 9.4% year over year to $11.27 billion, though EPS of $1.82 missed estimates of $2.00. Analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $8.17.

Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $255.6667.

A number of research firms have commented on SAP. Weiss Ratings raised SAP from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Argus set a $265.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of SAP from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SAP

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAP. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of SAP in the first quarter valued at $150,701,000. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. grew its holdings in SAP by 1,532.8% during the first quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. now owns 749,909 shares of the software maker's stock worth $128,392,000 after acquiring an additional 703,982 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in SAP in the fourth quarter worth about $81,784,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in SAP by 15.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,018,383 shares of the software maker's stock worth $345,567,000 after acquiring an additional 276,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in SAP by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 1,214,315 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $187,138,000 after acquiring an additional 189,591 shares during the last quarter.

SAP Price Performance

Shares of SAP stock opened at $218.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $268.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. SAP has a 1-year low of $144.97 and a 1-year high of $281.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $192.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.90.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.30 billion. SAP had a net margin of 20.88% and a return on equity of 17.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SAP will post 8.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About SAP

SAP SE is a German enterprise software company headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. The company develops technology that helps organizations manage core business operations, including finance, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, human resources, sales and customer relationships.

SAP's portfolio is centered on its cloud-based enterprise resource planning platform, SAP S/4HANA, along with the SAP Business Technology Platform. Its products and services also include SAP SuccessFactors for human resources, SAP Ariba for business-to-business procurement, SAP Concur for travel and expense management, and solutions for customer experience, data management, analytics and artificial intelligence.

SAP was founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees and has grown into a global provider of business software.

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