Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in SAP SE $SAP

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its SAP stake by 48.2% in the first quarter, adding 179,040 shares to bring its total holdings to 550,531 shares valued at about $94.3 million.
• Several other large institutions also boosted their SAP positions, including Fisher Asset Management, Bank of America, and Windacre Partnership, signaling continued institutional interest in the software maker.
• SAP reported $1.99 EPS and $11.06 billion in quarterly revenue, while analysts remain broadly positive with an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $283.40.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 48.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 550,531 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 179,040 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $94,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in SAP by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,728,881 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,577,793,000 after acquiring an additional 179,550 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of SAP by 58.1% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC lifted its position in shares of SAP by 130.9% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 2,357,225 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $629,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336,325 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in SAP by 3.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,560,994 shares of the software maker's stock worth $417,113,000 after purchasing an additional 49,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in SAP by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,200,024 shares of the software maker's stock worth $291,498,000 after purchasing an additional 83,349 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Stock Up 0.8%

SAP stock opened at $156.00 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $167.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. SAP SE has a twelve month low of $148.06 and a twelve month high of $309.73. The company has a market capitalization of $191.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.14.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter. SAP had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that SAP SE will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on SAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on SAP from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on SAP from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded SAP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.40.

SAP Company 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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