Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Invests $27.73 Million in SAP SE $SAP

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. purchased a new position in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 161,950 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $27,727,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of SAP by 109.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Bayban purchased a new stake in SAP in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in SAP in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in SAP during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in SAP by 758.8% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter.

SAP Price Performance

Shares of SAP stock opened at $159.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. SAP SE has a 1-year low of $148.06 and a 1-year high of $313.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.33.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter. SAP had a net margin of 20.08% and a return on equity of 17.31%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SAP SE will post 8.33 earnings per share for the current year.

SAP Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $2.9291 per share. This represents a yield of 170.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This is a positive change from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.54. SAP’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Santander raised shares of SAP from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Piper Sandler downgraded SAP from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of SAP in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.40.

About SAP

SAP SE is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Walldorf, Germany. Founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers, the company’s name is an acronym for Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing). SAP develops and sells software and services that help organizations manage business processes across finance, human resources, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain and customer relationships.

SAP’s product portfolio spans on‑premises and cloud offerings, anchored by its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions such as SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA in‑memory database and platform.