SAP (NYSE:SAP) Coverage Initiated at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of SAP (NYSE:SAP) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $227.00 target price on the software maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on SAP. Jefferies Financial Group raised SAP from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on SAP from $215.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on SAP in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an overweight rating on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on SAP from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered SAP from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SAP currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $216.40.

SAP Stock Performance

SAP opened at $195.00 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $188.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. SAP has a 12-month low of $126.75 and a 12-month high of $199.29.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $8.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.73 billion. SAP had a net margin of 15.76% and a return on equity of 9.79%. Sell-side analysts predict that SAP will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The business 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 $2.3852 dividend. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.19. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 0.9%. SAP’s payout ratio is currently 37.53%.

Institutional Trading of SAP

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAP. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in SAP in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in SAP in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. raised its position in SAP by 121.1% in the 4th quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 199 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter.

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.