Nomura Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 5,285 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in SAP by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,118,138 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,260,137,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in SAP by 125.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,602,548 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $394,563,000 after acquiring an additional 890,157 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in SAP by 91.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,471,798 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $362,371,000 after acquiring an additional 701,880 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in SAP by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,346,506 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $331,523,000 after acquiring an additional 798,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of SAP by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,314,814 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $323,720,000 after purchasing an additional 70,613 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SAP. JMP Securities lifted their target price on SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of SAP in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on SAP from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of SAP in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.00.

SAP Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:SAP opened at $296.46 on Friday. SAP SE has a 12-month low of $179.43 and a 12-month high of $303.40. The company has a market capitalization of $364.20 billion, a PE ratio of 103.30, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $272.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $263.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The software maker reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.12. SAP had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 9.17%. The company had revenue of $10.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.08 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $2.5423 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This is a boost from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.39. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. SAP’s payout ratio is 35.25%.

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.