Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Key Points

• Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in SAP SE by 21.0%, selling 8,339 shares and now holding 31,319 shares valued at approximately $8.4 million.
• Several research firms have recently issued positive ratings and price targets for SAP, with Barclays setting a target of $322.00 and UBS Group rating it as a "strong-buy."
• SAP reported strong quarterly earnings, achieving $1.70 EPS, exceeding estimates, with revenues of $10.58 billion, marking an 8.9% increase year-over-year.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 21.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,319 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 8,339 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $8,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in SAP by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,773 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in SAP by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 75,692 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $18,636,000 after buying an additional 2,445 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in SAP by 473.3% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,081 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 1,718 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in SAP during the 1st quarter valued at $790,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in SAP by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,271 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter.

SAP Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of SAP traded down $3.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $282.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,578,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,335,630. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $347.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.30. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $299.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.84. SAP SE has a 12-month low of $194.93 and a 12-month high of $313.28.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SAP shares. UBS Group upgraded SAP to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on SAP from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Argus restated a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on SAP from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $281.67.

SAP Profile

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.