SAP (NYSE:SAP) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $218.13, but opened at $223.76. SAP shares last traded at $223.94, with a volume of 51,349 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SAP. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of SAP from $188.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of SAP from $251.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Argus upgraded shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on SAP from $220.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on SAP from $237.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SAP presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.17.

SAP Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $217.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $275.95 billion, a PE ratio of 48.58, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 1.25.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.09. SAP had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 10.98%. The company had revenue of $8.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SAP

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of SAP during the first quarter worth approximately $58,936,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in SAP by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 621,417 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $121,195,000 after purchasing an additional 108,729 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in SAP in the second quarter worth about $21,479,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SAP in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $20,532,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of SAP in the first quarter valued at $14,940,000.

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.