Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 11,796 Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 130.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,857 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,796 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in SAP were worth $3,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in SAP by 2.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,864,247 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $758,364,000 after acquiring an additional 122,135 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in SAP by 58.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,700,206 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $524,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,492 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in SAP by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,750,865 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $283,862,000 after acquiring an additional 238,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in SAP by 1.7% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,362,893 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $305,569,000 after acquiring an additional 38,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in SAP by 213.0% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,420,255 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $183,507,000 after acquiring an additional 966,450 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Stock Up 0.8 %

SAP stock opened at $185.67 on Friday. SAP SE has a 12 month low of $126.40 and a 12 month high of $199.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $187.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.78.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The software maker reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.17). SAP had a return on equity of 9.54% and a net margin of 20.30%. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.98 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that SAP SE will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.3852 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a boost from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. This represents a dividend yield of 0.9%. SAP’s payout ratio is currently 27.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SAP shares. StockNews.com raised shares of SAP from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $189.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $147.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $185.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.80.

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.