Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 611,572 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 4,775 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $140,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAP. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of SAP by 17.3% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the software maker's stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in SAP by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,994 shares of the software maker's stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in SAP by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 89,751 shares of the software maker's stock worth $20,562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,892 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of SAP during the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SAP by 0.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 62,580 shares of the software maker's stock worth $14,337,000 after buying an additional 568 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of SAP traded down $2.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $237.56. The stock had a trading volume of 706,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 800,132. The stock's 50 day moving average is $227.28 and its 200 day moving average is $208.66. The firm has a market cap of $291.84 billion, a PE ratio of 95.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. SAP SE has a 1 year low of $142.39 and a 1 year high of $243.01.

SAP (NYSE:SAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The software maker reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.08). SAP had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 8.15%. The firm had revenue of $8.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that SAP SE will post 4.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SAP. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of SAP from $252.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JMP Securities lifted their target price on SAP from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus upgraded SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of SAP from $234.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of SAP from $248.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $252.33.

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.