SAP (NYSE:SAP) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $149.51, but opened at $154.72. SAP shares last traded at $154.1260, with a volume of 643,665 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of SAP from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SAP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of SAP from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SAP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.40.

SAP Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $172.61 and its 200-day moving average is $198.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter. SAP had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 17.31%. Analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $2.9291 dividend. This represents a yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.54. SAP’s payout ratio is currently 28.92%.

Institutional Trading of SAP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAP. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of SAP by 109.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Bayban purchased a new stake in SAP in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in SAP during the third quarter worth $32,000. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in SAP by 362.5% during the first quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 185 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SAP in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000.

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.