Wall Street Zen Upgrades SAP (NYSE:SAP) to "Buy"

Key Points

• SAP has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a positive shift in investor sentiment.
• Barclays has raised its price target for SAP shares from $308.00 to $322.00, while the average target price among analysts stands at $281.67.
• The company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the last quarter, which exceeded analysts' expectations, contributing to a year-over-year revenue growth of 8.9%.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities lifted their target price on SAP from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised SAP to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $322.00 target price (up previously from $308.00) on shares of SAP in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on SAP in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They set an "overweight" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $281.67.

SAP Trading Up 1.8%

SAP stock traded up $4.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $274.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 729,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,514. The stock has a market capitalization of $337.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's fifty day moving average is $291.42 and its 200 day moving average is $284.83. SAP has a 1-year low of $210.38 and a 1-year high of $313.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SAP will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SAP

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in SAP by 585.7% during the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in SAP by 153.5% during the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 109 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in SAP during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Founders Capital Management increased its position in SAP by 133.9% during the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 131 shares of the software maker's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Motco increased its position in SAP by 400.0% during the second quarter. Motco now owns 125 shares of the software maker's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 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.