SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Short Interest Update

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,690,000 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the March 15th total of 3,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 0.3% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of SAP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its position in SAP by 585.7% during the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the software maker's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in SAP during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in SAP by 153.5% during the first quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 109 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in SAP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in SAP by 2,700.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 112 shares of the software maker's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SAP shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on SAP from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Kepler Capital Markets raised SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, SAP presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $254.67.

SAP Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SAP traded up $4.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $278.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,849,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 996,111. The firm has a market cap of $342.08 billion, a PE ratio of 97.02, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $267.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.79. SAP has a twelve month low of $179.15 and a twelve month high of $293.70.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.08 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 9.17%. Research analysts predict that SAP will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.39. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. SAP's dividend payout ratio is 35.25%.

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.