SAP (NYSE:SAP) Upgraded to Buy at Kepler Capital Markets

SAP (NYSE:SAP) was upgraded by equities researchers at Kepler Capital Markets from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on SAP from $234.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities lifted their target price on SAP from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on SAP from $248.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of SAP from $252.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SAP has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.33.

SAP Price Performance

SAP opened at $253.20 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $244.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.22. SAP has a 52-week low of $155.82 and a 52-week high of $256.13.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The software maker reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.08). SAP had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company had revenue of $8.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.25 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that SAP will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SAP

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in SAP by 22.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,246,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,347,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,468 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in SAP by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 611,572 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $140,111,000 after buying an additional 4,775 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in SAP by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 548,469 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $125,654,000 after buying an additional 7,667 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in SAP by 12.5% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 210,804 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $48,295,000 after buying an additional 23,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in SAP by 8.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 197,976 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,934,000 after acquiring an additional 15,604 shares in the last quarter.

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.