Sunbelt Securities Inc. Takes Position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 151 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wallace Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of SAP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Strategic Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SAP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,829 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Finally, &PARTNERS purchased a new position in shares of SAP in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $400,000.

SAP Trading Up 0.5 %

SAP stock opened at $201.71 on Monday. SAP SE has a 1-year low of $126.75 and a 1-year high of $204.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $189.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.06). SAP had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 15.76%. The firm had revenue of $8.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.73 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that SAP SE will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SAP. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on SAP in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $227.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp began coverage on SAP in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on SAP from $212.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on SAP from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded SAP from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $218.00 to $237.00 in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.20.

SAP 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.