SAP SE $SAP Stock Holdings Lifted by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 191.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 62,152 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,825 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in SAP were worth $10,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in SAP by 109.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Bayban bought a new stake in SAP in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in SAP in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of SAP during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 758.8% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of SAP from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SAP from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Santander raised SAP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on SAP from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on SAP from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.40.

Key SAP News

Here are the key news stories impacting SAP this week:

• Positive Sentiment: SAP said it will tighten hiring and travel spending so it can redirect resources toward a larger AI push, which could support longer-term margins and product growth if the investments pay off. SAP Seeks to Rein in Costs to Focus on AI Investments
• Positive Sentiment: Management is framing the AI strategy as a redeployment of workers rather than a major job-cutting program, which may ease investor concerns about execution risk and employee disruption. SAP trying to embrace AI without job cuts; experts divided: report
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional coverage highlighted SAP’s effort to embrace AI without layoffs, but the market impact is likely limited unless the company gives clearer details on efficiency gains or revenue upside. Can You Embrace A.I. Without Layoffs? This Company Says It’s Trying.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent analyst estimate cuts from Erste Group point to slightly lower earnings expectations, but the revisions were modest and appear secondary to the AI and cost-control narrative today. MarketBeat SAP coverage

SAP Stock Performance

Shares of SAP opened at $162.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $199.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. SAP SE has a one year low of $148.06 and a one year high of $313.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $169.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $193.76.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter. SAP had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 17.31%. As a group, analysts expect that SAP SE will post 8.33 earnings per share for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $2.9291 per share. This represents a yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.54. SAP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.78%.

About SAP

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.