SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Short Interest Down 34.7% in April

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,410,000 shares, a drop of 34.7% from the March 31st total of 3,690,000 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

SAP Stock Performance

Shares of SAP stock traded up $12.86 on Friday, reaching $301.79. 2,751,645 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,019,314. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $370.75 billion, a PE ratio of 105.15, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. SAP has a 1-year low of $179.43 and a 1-year high of $302.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $268.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $258.79.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $10.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.08 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SAP will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of SAP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAP. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SAP during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of SAP by 153.5% during the 1st quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 109 shares of the software maker's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of SAP during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of SAP by 2,700.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 112 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen upgraded SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $305.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $308.00 price objective (up from $286.00) on shares of SAP in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.00.

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.