SAP (NYSE:SAP) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $163.25, but opened at $175.10. SAP shares last traded at $173.2120, with a volume of 1,643,345 shares traded.

The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $11.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.21 billion. SAP had a return on equity of 17.62% and a net margin of 20.08%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 EPS.

SAP Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $2.9291 per share. This is a boost from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.54. This represents a dividend yield of 175.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 5th. SAP’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.10%.

SAP News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting SAP this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat and cloud momentum — SAP reported $1.99 EPS vs. $1.92 expected, IFRS operating profit +17%, and strong cloud metrics: cloud revenue +27% at constant currencies and current cloud backlog €21.9bn (+25% CC). This underpins revenue visibility and margin improvement. SAP Quarterly Statement Q1 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Market coverage highlights the beat and cloud strength — multiple outlets report the cloud-driven rebound and link it to the stock move, reinforcing investor confidence. SAP stock surges on cloud performance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / bullish write-ups — Seeking Alpha upgraded SAP to Buy citing accelerating cloud revenue and improving operating margins, which supports more bullish investor sentiment. SAP upgrade article
• Positive Sentiment: Management and CEO positioning on AI — CEO comments emphasizing SAP’s AI readiness and differentiated ERP positioning help calm sector AI fears and support the narrative that SAP can capture enterprise AI spend. CEO AI remarks
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst consensus and long-term targets still varied — coverage ranges from trimmed near-term targets to high long-term price targets (average reported around $297), reflecting differing views on valuation vs. growth runway. Brokerage targets
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest rose sharply in April — short interest increased ~31.6% month-over-month to ~7.56M shares (≈0.7% of float). That shows some investor skepticism and could pressure the stock if sentiment weakens. (Short-interest ratio ≈2.4 days.)
• Negative Sentiment: Price-target trim from BMO — BMO lowered its target from $210 to $200 (still an outperform), a modest near-term downgrade that may temper upside in the near term. BMO note
• Negative Sentiment: Pre-earnings target trims — some analysts trimmed targets ahead of Q1, highlighting lingering concerns about sector headwinds and valuation that could limit momentum despite the beat. Analyst trims

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Zacks Research lowered SAP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler cut SAP from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SAP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SAP

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of SAP by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,961 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in SAP by 1.0% during the third quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Binnacle Investments Inc lifted its holdings in SAP by 14.2% in the third quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 338 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in SAP by 1.0% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,495 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in SAP by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 740 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period.

SAP Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $215.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $222.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

SAP Company Profile

SAP SE is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers, the company’s name is an acronym for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing). SAP develops and sells software and services that help organizations manage business processes across finance, human resources, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and customer relationships.

SAP’s product portfolio spans on‑premises and cloud offerings, anchored by its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions such as SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA in‑memory database and platform.