XML Financial LLC Acquires New Shares in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

XML Financial LLC bought a new position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 785 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in SAP by 152.0% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 414,154 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $101,969,000 after buying an additional 249,824 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in SAP by 98.9% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,572 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of SAP by 164.4% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,681 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of SAP by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,773 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of SAP by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 75,692 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $18,636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,445 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SAP shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on SAP from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of SAP in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on SAP in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $271.83.

SAP Stock Performance

SAP opened at $297.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $365.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $291.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $274.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. SAP SE has a 12-month low of $192.41 and a 12-month high of $311.40.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.08 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 16.33%. On average, equities analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $2.5423 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.39. SAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.25%.

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.