First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 53,022 Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 297,372 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 53,022 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in SAP were worth $73,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in SAP by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,118,138 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,260,137,000 after purchasing an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of SAP by 125.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,602,548 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $394,563,000 after buying an additional 890,157 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of SAP by 145.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,346,506 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $331,523,000 after buying an additional 798,037 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of SAP by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,172,103 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $288,583,000 after buying an additional 273,417 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SAP in the 4th quarter valued at $290,023,000.

SAP Trading Up 1.8 %

SAP stock traded up $4.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $278.45. 1,849,940 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 996,111. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $267.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $257.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $342.08 billion, a PE ratio of 97.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. SAP SE has a one year low of $179.15 and a one year high of $293.70.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 12.18% and a net margin of 9.17%. Research analysts predict that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen raised SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $240.00 to $305.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $308.00 price objective (up from $286.00) on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $254.67.

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.