Bank of Montreal Can Reduces Stake in SAP SE $SAP

Key Points

• Bank of Montreal Can cut its stake in SAP by 30.3% in the third quarter, selling 78,350 shares and ending the period with 179,922 shares valued at about $48.08 million.
• Several large institutions boosted positions in SAP—Fisher Asset Management added ~1.16M shares (now ~14.16M), Bank of America added ~973,779 shares (now ~2.65M), and Thrivent purchased ~416,678 shares (now ~421,173), among others.
• SAP beat estimates with Q results of $1.90 EPS vs. $1.77 expected and $11.36B revenue vs. $9.77B expected (revenue +3.3% YoY); analysts’ consensus is a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $305.75.

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its holdings in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 30.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,922 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 78,350 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can's holdings in SAP were worth $48,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SAP by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,157,321 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,305,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,616 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,650,418 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $805,992,000 after purchasing an additional 973,779 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in SAP by 9,269.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 421,173 shares of the software maker's stock worth $112,542,000 after purchasing an additional 416,678 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in SAP by 282.0% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 124,322 shares of the software maker's stock worth $37,806,000 after purchasing an additional 91,781 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in SAP by 7.8% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,087,751 shares of the software maker's stock worth $330,786,000 after purchasing an additional 78,306 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Stock Down 0.4%

SAP opened at $190.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $242.72. SAP SE has a twelve month low of $187.93 and a twelve month high of $313.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $233.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.18.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The software maker reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $11.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.77 billion. SAP had a net margin of 19.92% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on SAP in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Santander raised SAP to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citizens Jmp cut shares of SAP from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SAP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $305.75.

SAP Profile

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.

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