Guardian Partners Inc. Purchases New Holdings in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 50,693 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $12,850,000. SAP makes up 1.3% of Guardian Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SAP. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SAP in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of SAP by 79.1% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,717 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SAP in the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SAP by 15.0% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,595 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SAP in the third quarter valued at approximately $223,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of SAP from $283.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of SAP from $265.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SAP has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $248.83.

SAP Price Performance

Shares of SAP stock opened at $272.69 on Friday. SAP SE has a 12-month low of $175.08 and a 12-month high of $293.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $335.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $275.63 and a 200-day moving average of $249.68.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The software maker reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.51 by ($0.02). SAP had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 12.18%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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.