Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on SAP (NYSE:SAP)

Key Points

• Investors have notably increased their trading activity in put options for SAP, with a rise of approximately 217% as 6,781 put options were purchased compared to the average of 2,141.
• SAP's stock has recently dropped by 5.7%, trading at $270.84 amidst an average trading volume of 867,914 shares.
• Institutional investment activity includes Deutsche Bank AG increasing its stake in SAP by 41.3%, while Junto Capital Management LP has made a significant new investment worth approximately $21.55 million.

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 6,781 put options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately217% compared to the average volume of 2,141 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,773 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SAP during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $790,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,271 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,662,809 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $446,364,000 after buying an additional 60,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of SAP during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,552,000.

SAP Stock Down 5.7%

SAP stock traded down $16.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $270.84. 867,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,330,036. SAP has a 52-week low of $208.24 and a 52-week high of $313.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 1.27. The business's 50-day moving average price is $297.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.07. SAP had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 14.84%. The firm had revenue of $10.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that SAP will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SAP. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $322.00 price target (up previously from $308.00) on shares of SAP in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group raised shares of SAP to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of SAP from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of SAP from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $281.67.

SAP Company Profile

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.

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