StockNews.com Downgrades SAP (NYSE:SAP) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of SAP (NYSE:SAP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on SAP. Barclays boosted their price objective on SAP from $189.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on SAP from $185.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised SAP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on SAP from $147.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on SAP in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an overweight rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SAP currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $193.80.

SAP Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SAP opened at $178.63 on Thursday. SAP has a 1 year low of $126.40 and a 1 year high of $199.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.55.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The software maker reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.17). SAP had a return on equity of 9.54% and a net margin of 20.30%. The business had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.98 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that SAP will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $2.3852 dividend. This is an increase from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. This represents a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. SAP’s payout ratio is presently 27.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SAP

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in SAP in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of SAP by 130.8% during the fourth quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of SAP during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Column Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of SAP by 121.0% during the third quarter. Column Capital Advisors LLC now owns 221 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SAP during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000.

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.