Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,884 Shares of SAP SE $SAP

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its stake in SAP by 2.8%, selling 10,884 shares and leaving 371,491 shares valued at about $90.24 million at the end of the quarter.
• SAP raised its annual dividend to $2.9291 from $2.54, payable May 15 with an ex‑dividend date of May 5.
• SAP reported $1.99 EPS on $11.06 billion in quarterly revenue; analysts give the stock an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a mean price target of $288 while shares trade near $173.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 371,491 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 10,884 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $90,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in SAP by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $242,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in SAP by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,309 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $4,378,000 after buying an additional 5,363 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC acquired a new position in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $2,681,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in SAP by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,050 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Stock Performance

NYSE:SAP opened at $173.21 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $179.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.11. 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 $160.66 and a twelve month high of $313.28.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter. SAP had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 20.08%. On average, analysts anticipate that SAP SE will post 8.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th will be given a $2.9291 dividend. This is a boost from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.54. This represents a yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 5th. SAP's dividend payout ratio is 28.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on SAP shares. Piper Sandler lowered SAP from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on SAP from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Santander raised SAP from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup lowered SAP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered SAP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.00.

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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