Northern Trust Corp Increases Holdings in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 91.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,471,798 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 701,880 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.12% of SAP worth $362,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SAP by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 955 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of SAP by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SAP by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 1,089 shares of the software maker's stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,927 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in SAP by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,586 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SAP. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $240.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Argus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on SAP from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 a consensus target price of $264.00.

SAP Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE SAP traded up $12.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $301.79. 2,751,645 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,021,893. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.12. SAP SE has a 12-month low of $179.43 and a 12-month high of $302.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $268.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.99. The firm has a market cap of $370.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28.

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

SAP Increases Dividend

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

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.