SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Announces Dividend Increase – $2.54 Per Share

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) declared an annual dividend on Monday, April 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given 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 payout ratio of 31.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Price Performance

SAP stock traded down $7.47 during trading on Monday, reaching $241.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,495,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 947,794. The company’s fifty day moving average is $276.41 and its 200-day moving average is $253.48. SAP has a 1 year low of $175.08 and a 1 year high of $293.70. The company 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 quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.12 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.02). SAP had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 12.18%. On average, research analysts expect that SAP will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SAP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen upgraded SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $240.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of SAP from $283.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of SAP from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of SAP from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $248.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SAP

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in SAP stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) by 91.1% in the fourth quarter, according to 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

About SAP

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.