Short Interest in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Expands By 31.6%

Key Points

• Short interest in SAP surged 31.6% in April to 7,558,815 shares (about 0.7% of shares sold short), with a days-to-cover ratio of 2.4 based on average volume.
• SAP raised its annual dividend to $2.9291 (up from $2.54), with a record date of May 5 and payment on May 15.
• Analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $288.00, amid mixed recent rating changes including upgrades and downgrades.

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 7,558,815 shares, a growth of 31.6% from the March 31st total of 5,743,046 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,206,883 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of SAP from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Santander raised SAP from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings downgraded SAP from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on SAP from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.00.

Institutional Trading of SAP

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAP. Dara Capital US Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SAP during the 4th quarter worth about $3,342,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in SAP by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,410 shares of the software maker's stock worth $14,272,000 after purchasing an additional 7,066 shares during the last quarter. Seaview Investment Managers LLC boosted its position in SAP by 191.4% during the third quarter. Seaview Investment Managers LLC now owns 11,744 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,138,000 after purchasing an additional 7,714 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in SAP during the third quarter worth approximately $32,760,000. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in SAP by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 139,273 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $37,215,000 after purchasing an additional 12,268 shares during the last quarter.

SAP Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE SAP opened at $173.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $213.22 billion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.24. SAP has a 1-year low of $160.66 and a 1-year high of $313.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $182.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.58.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter. SAP had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 20.08%.The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SAP will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th will be issued a $2.9291 dividend. This is an increase from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.54. This represents a yield of 175.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 5th. SAP's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.86%.

About SAP

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.

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