Value Partners Investments Inc. Sells 39,442 Shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Value Partners Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP - Free Report) by 92.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,101 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 39,442 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in SAP were worth $763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SAP. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in SAP by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,118,138 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,260,137,000 after buying an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in SAP by 125.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,602,548 shares of the software maker's stock worth $394,563,000 after purchasing an additional 890,157 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in SAP by 145.5% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,346,506 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $331,523,000 after buying an additional 798,037 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in SAP by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,172,103 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $288,583,000 after purchasing an additional 273,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SAP during the 4th quarter valued at $290,023,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SAP shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on SAP from $307.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities upped their price target on SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of SAP from $283.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded SAP from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.67.

SAP Stock Performance

SAP stock traded down $3.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $257.02. 1,503,694 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 981,820. 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 $315.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $271.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

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

SAP Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from SAP's previous annual dividend of $2.39. SAP's payout ratio is currently 64.11%.

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.