Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $106.03 Million Position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 23.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 394,994 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 124,107 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $106,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC raised its position in SAP by 585.7% in the first quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the software maker's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of SAP by 153.5% in the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 109 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SAP by 2,700.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 112 shares of the software maker's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Founders Capital Management lifted its position in shares of SAP by 133.9% during the 1st quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 131 shares of the software maker's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in SAP by 126.2% in the 1st quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 138 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on SAP. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $308.00 price objective (up from $286.00) on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of SAP from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, June 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SAP has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $271.83.

SAP Price Performance

SAP opened at $302.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $371.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 1.30. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $297.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.26. SAP SE has a one year low of $194.93 and a one year high of $311.40.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 16.33%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $2.5423 per share. This is a boost from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.39. This represents a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. SAP's payout ratio is currently 35.25%.

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.

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