Investors Buy High Volume of SAP Put Options (NYSE:SAP)

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 5,494 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 136% compared to the average volume of 2,329 put options.

SAP Stock Performance

SAP traded down $2.05 on Friday, hitting $233.79. 666,579 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,579,444. SAP has a 12-month low of $231.91 and a 12-month high of $313.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $243.54 and a 200-day moving average of $266.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.47 billion, a PE ratio of 34.93, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.18.

SAP (NYSE:SAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The software maker reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.17. SAP had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 19.50%.The business had revenue of $10.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SAP will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SAP shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a report on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of SAP in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded SAP from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of SAP in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

Institutional Trading of SAP

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAP. First PREMIER Bank acquired a new stake in SAP in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of SAP by 246.4% in the third quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 97 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in SAP during the third quarter worth $27,000. Copia Wealth Management acquired a new stake in SAP in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SAP during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000.

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.