SAP Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SAP)

Key Points

• SAP saw unusually heavy options activity on Wednesday, with 7,476 put options traded — about 42% above the average volume of 5,260.
• The stock fell 3.6% to $148.76 during the session, putting it near its 1-year low and well below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.83, despite some recent downgrades and lower targets.

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 7,476 put options on the company. This is an increase of 42% compared to the average volume of 5,260 put options.

SAP Trading Down 3.6%

SAP stock traded down $5.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,000,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,170,303. The stock's fifty day moving average is $166.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.14. SAP has a 1 year low of $148.06 and a 1 year high of $299.48.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter. SAP had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 20.08%. On average, analysts anticipate that SAP will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SAP. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Piper Sandler cut shares of SAP from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of SAP from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of SAP from $257.00 to $255.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SAP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $270.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dara Capital US Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SAP during the fourth quarter worth $3,342,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its stake in SAP by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 78,880 shares of the software maker's stock worth $19,161,000 after acquiring an additional 6,315 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in SAP by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,091 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 6,763 shares during the period. Rock Point Advisors LLC increased its stake in SAP by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 33,569 shares of the software maker's stock worth $8,154,000 after purchasing an additional 13,413 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SAP during the fourth quarter worth about $1,512,000.

SAP Company Profile

SAP SE is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers, the company's name is an acronym for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing). SAP develops and sells software and services that help organizations manage business processes across finance, human resources, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and customer relationships.

SAP's product portfolio spans on‑premises and cloud offerings, anchored by its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions such as SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA in‑memory database and platform.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.