SAP (NYSE:SAP) Shares Break Above 200 Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• SAP shares rose above their 200-day moving average, trading as high as $210.31 versus the $182.36 average, with the stock last quoted near $208.63.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a $256.29 price target, despite UBS downgrading the stock to neutral.
• SAP’s latest quarterly results missed earnings expectations, reporting $1.82 in EPS versus $2.00 expected, while revenue rose 9.4% year over year to $11.27 billion.

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report)'s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $182.36 and traded as high as $210.31. SAP shares last traded at $208.6320, with a volume of 1,412,390 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SAP has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group cut shares of SAP from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SAP currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $256.29.

SAP Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $256.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $207.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.36.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.30 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 17.07% and a net margin of 20.88%.SAP's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that SAP SE will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SAP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of SAP by 15.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,018,383 shares of the software maker's stock worth $345,567,000 after acquiring an additional 276,263 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of SAP by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 1,214,315 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $187,138,000 after purchasing an additional 189,591 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in SAP during the 1st quarter worth about $150,701,000. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. boosted its stake in SAP by 1,532.8% in the 1st quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. now owns 749,909 shares of the software maker's stock worth $128,392,000 after purchasing an additional 703,982 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in SAP by 48.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 550,531 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $94,257,000 after buying an additional 179,040 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Company Profile

SAP SE is a German enterprise software company headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees, SAP develops technology that helps organizations manage finance, procurement, supply chains, human resources, customer relationships and other core business operations.

The company's principal offerings include SAP S/4HANA Cloud enterprise resource planning software, the SAP Business Technology Platform, and cloud applications such as SAP SuccessFactors for human capital management, SAP Ariba for procurement, SAP Concur for travel and expense management, and SAP Customer Experience solutions.

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