SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Short Interest Up 26.2% in March

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,632,979 shares, an increase of 26.2% from the February 26th total of 3,670,473 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,267,694 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of SAP in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup cut SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of SAP in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of SAP in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of SAP from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SAP presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.75.

SAP Stock Performance

SAP traded up $2.93 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $171.22. 2,324,259 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,059,788. The stock has a market cap of $210.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $198.36 and a 200 day moving average of $233.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. SAP has a 52 week low of $163.77 and a 52 week high of $313.28.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The software maker reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.13. SAP had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 19.92%.The company had revenue of $11.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SAP will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in SAP by 15.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,410 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $14,272,000 after purchasing an additional 7,066 shares during the period. Seaview Investment Managers LLC increased its stake in SAP by 191.4% during the 3rd quarter. Seaview Investment Managers LLC now owns 11,744 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,138,000 after buying an additional 7,714 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SAP during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,760,000. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 139,273 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $37,215,000 after acquiring an additional 12,268 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of SAP by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 415,087 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $110,915,000 after acquiring an additional 9,195 shares during the period.

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.