Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 14,620 Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 606,797 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 14,620 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in SAP were worth $122,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 746,386 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in SAP by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,086,658 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $167,987,000 after purchasing an additional 26,031 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in SAP by 3.7% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 631,961 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $127,473,000 after purchasing an additional 22,438 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of SAP by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 404,730 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,566,000 after buying an additional 31,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of SAP in the 1st quarter worth about $58,936,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SAP shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of SAP from $237.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on SAP from $188.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Argus upgraded SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on SAP in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $227.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on SAP from $220.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SAP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $232.00.

SAP Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SAP opened at $219.59 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $206.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.44. SAP SE has a fifty-two week low of $126.75 and a fifty-two week high of $221.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $259.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.63, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 1.25.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The software maker reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $8.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 10.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The business’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SAP SE will post 4.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.