SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Raises Dividend to $2.54 Per Share

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) announced an annual dividend on Monday, April 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of 2.5423 per share by the software maker on Friday, May 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This is a 6.6% increase from SAP’s previous annual dividend of $2.39.

SAP has raised its dividend by an average of 1.8% annually over the last three years. SAP has a dividend payout ratio of 31.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect SAP to earn $7.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.54 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.7%.

SAP Stock Performance

NYSE SAP opened at $241.03 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $275.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.56. SAP has a 1 year low of $175.08 and a 1 year high of $293.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The software maker reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.02). SAP had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 9.17%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SAP will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in SAP stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 91.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,633 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in SAP were worth $648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on SAP shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of SAP from $265.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays increased their target price on SAP from $283.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SAP has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $248.83.

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.