Sanford C. Bernstein Begins Coverage on SAP (NYSE:SAP)

Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of SAP (NYSE:SAP) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $227.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SAP. Barclays cut their price objective on SAP from $212.00 to $210.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp began coverage on SAP in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on SAP from $215.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of SAP from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised SAP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $216.40.

SAP Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE SAP opened at $195.38 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.11. SAP has a 1-year low of $126.75 and a 1-year high of $199.29.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.06). SAP had a net margin of 15.76% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The firm had revenue of $8.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.73 billion. Research analysts anticipate that SAP will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.3852 dividend. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 0.9%. SAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SAP

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in SAP by 213.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,420,255 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $183,507,000 after purchasing an additional 966,450 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of SAP by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,947,613 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,537,251,000 after acquiring an additional 746,386 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SAP by 19,468.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 482,762 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,430,000 after acquiring an additional 480,295 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in SAP by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,060,627 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $137,160,000 after purchasing an additional 414,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $58,936,000.

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.