Bessemer Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 3,555.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,963 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,581 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in SAP were worth $3,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in SAP in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $290,023,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of SAP by 125.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,602,548 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $394,563,000 after purchasing an additional 890,157 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in SAP by 145.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,346,506 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $331,523,000 after buying an additional 798,037 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in SAP during the 4th quarter valued at about $163,630,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in SAP in the fourth quarter valued at about $150,668,000.

SAP Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of SAP stock opened at $259.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $318.25 billion, a PE ratio of 90.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $272.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.21. SAP SE has a 1 year low of $175.08 and a 1 year high of $293.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The software maker reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.02). SAP had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 12.18%. Equities research analysts predict that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $2.5423 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.39. SAP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SAP. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $240.00 to $305.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of SAP from $283.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on SAP from $265.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.83.

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.