Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,261 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SAP. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SAP in the fourth quarter worth $290,023,000. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of SAP by 125.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,602,548 shares of the software maker's stock worth $394,563,000 after purchasing an additional 890,157 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of SAP by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,346,506 shares of the software maker's stock worth $331,523,000 after purchasing an additional 798,037 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of SAP by 91.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,471,798 shares of the software maker's stock worth $362,371,000 after purchasing an additional 701,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of SAP in the fourth quarter worth $163,630,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on SAP from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $308.00 price objective (up previously from $286.00) on shares of SAP in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Argus reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $271.83.

SAP Stock Performance

NYSE:SAP traded up $6.80 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $301.67. 1,204,773 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,055,281. The firm has a market cap of $370.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $276.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $265.96. SAP SE has a one year low of $179.43 and a one year high of $310.58.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 9.17%. Research analysts anticipate that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $2.5423 dividend. This is a positive change from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. SAP's dividend payout ratio is 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.