SAP SE $SAP Shares Sold by Ethic Inc.

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. reduced its stake in SAP SE by 2.4%, selling 1,648 shares and bringing its total holdings to 65,796 shares, valued at approximately $17.8 million.
• Several hedge funds significantly increased their positions in SAP during the 1st quarter, with Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management increasing holdings by 585.7%.
• Analysts have given SAP a mixed outlook, with two firms downgrading the stock from a "buy" rating to a "hold," while others raised target prices, indicating moderate buy sentiment overall.

Ethic Inc. lessened its holdings in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,796 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 1,648 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $17,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in SAP by 31,239.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,306,229 shares of the software maker's stock worth $350,644,000 after buying an additional 1,302,061 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of SAP by 91.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,471,798 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $362,371,000 after acquiring an additional 701,880 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of SAP by 6,165.7% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 357,460 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $88,010,000 after purchasing an additional 351,755 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of SAP by 101.5% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,356 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 230,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Research LLC acquired a new stake in SAP in the 1st quarter worth $32,151,000.

SAP Price Performance

NYSE:SAP traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $277.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,292,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,779,869. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $295.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $341.18 billion, a PE ratio of 45.98, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. SAP SE has a 52 week low of $210.38 and a 52 week high of $313.28.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.07. SAP had a return on equity of 14.84% and a net margin of 18.26%. The company had revenue of $10.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SAP. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of SAP in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of SAP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of SAP from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on SAP from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $281.67.

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.