SAP SE $SAP Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 226,131 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 40,712 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in SAP were worth $60,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in SAP by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,157,321 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,305,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,616 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of SAP by 58.1% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,650,418 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $805,992,000 after buying an additional 973,779 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of SAP by 9,269.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 421,173 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $112,542,000 after buying an additional 416,678 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in SAP by 282.0% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 124,322 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $37,806,000 after buying an additional 91,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in SAP by 7.8% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,087,751 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $330,786,000 after buying an additional 78,306 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:SAP opened at $195.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $243.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.18. SAP SE has a 1-year low of $187.93 and a 1-year high of $313.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The software maker reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.13. SAP had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 19.92%.The firm had revenue of $11.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Santander upgraded shares of SAP to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. HSBC raised shares of SAP to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.75.

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.