SAP (NYSE:SAP) Hits New 52-Week High - Here's Why

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $304.66 and last traded at $304.39, with a volume of 830362 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $302.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SAP shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $308.00 price target (up from $286.00) on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on SAP from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised SAP to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $271.83.

SAP Stock Up 0.9%

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 company has a market cap of $379.88 billion, a PE ratio of 107.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $279.49 and a 200-day moving average of $268.63.

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

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $2.5423 per share. This is an increase from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a yield of 0.8%. SAP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.25%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SAP

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of SAP by 31,239.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,306,229 shares of the software maker's stock worth $350,644,000 after buying an additional 1,302,061 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in SAP during the 4th quarter valued at about $290,023,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in SAP by 125.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 890,157 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in SAP by 145.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,346,506 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $331,523,000 after acquiring an additional 798,037 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in SAP by 91.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,471,798 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $362,371,000 after acquiring an additional 701,880 shares during the period.

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.