Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 5,345 Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,893 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 5,345 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $12,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SAP by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,486 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,074,000 after acquiring an additional 3,495 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of SAP by 208.2% in the fourth quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,367 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $4,030,000 after purchasing an additional 11,057 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of SAP by 1.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 548,469 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $125,654,000 after purchasing an additional 7,667 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 152.0% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 414,154 shares of the software maker's stock worth $101,969,000 after buying an additional 249,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in SAP by 98.9% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,572 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of SAP from $265.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of SAP from $283.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.83.

SAP Price Performance

SAP traded up $1.97 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $261.12. 173,088 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 969,285. SAP SE has a one year low of $175.08 and a one year high of $293.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $320.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The software maker reported $1.49 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that SAP SE will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $2.5423 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.39. SAP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.11%.

SAP 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.