Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 606,797 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 14,620 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in SAP were worth $122,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in SAP by 1,270.0% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 137 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Coerente Capital Management grew its stake in shares of SAP by 2.5% in the second quarter. Coerente Capital Management now owns 113,398 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $22,874,000 after buying an additional 2,786 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SAP in the 2nd quarter valued at $69,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in SAP during the 2nd quarter worth about $236,000. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in SAP by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,070 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period.

SAP Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SAP opened at $219.59 on Friday. SAP SE has a 52 week low of $126.75 and a 52 week high of $221.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $206.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.44. The company has a market cap of $259.02 billion, a PE ratio of 47.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.09. SAP had a return on equity of 10.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The firm had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. SAP’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that SAP SE will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of SAP from $188.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of SAP from $217.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on SAP from $237.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on SAP in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $227.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SAP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.00.

About SAP

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.