SAP (NYSE:SAP) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

SAP (NYSE:SAP) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp assumed coverage on SAP in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of SAP from $185.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on SAP from $147.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.80.

SAP Stock Performance

Shares of SAP stock opened at $175.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.88. SAP has a fifty-two week low of $126.40 and a fifty-two week high of $199.29.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The software maker reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. SAP had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 9.54%. Research analysts predict that SAP will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of SAP by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,947,613 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,537,251,000 after buying an additional 746,386 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in SAP by 2.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in SAP by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,750,865 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $283,862,000 after acquiring an additional 238,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of SAP by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,362,893 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $305,569,000 after purchasing an additional 38,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SAP by 213.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,420,255 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $183,507,000 after purchasing an additional 966,450 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.