ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Shares Up 0.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) was up 0.7% on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $1,128.00 to $1,160.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. ServiceNow traded as high as $981.99 and last traded at $972.10. Approximately 267,622 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 1,507,217 shares. The stock had previously closed at $965.26.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on NOW. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $881.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial raised shares of ServiceNow from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $950.00 to $1,200.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,025.00 price objective (up from $900.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, April 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,025.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,048.55.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. The trade was a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey A. Miller sold 2,282 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,030.64, for a total transaction of $2,351,920.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,883,148.32. The trade was a 5.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,692 shares of company stock worth $18,173,444. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterneck Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,000. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its position in ServiceNow by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,881 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in ServiceNow by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 3,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,754,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth about $223,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 95 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServiceNow Trading Up 1.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $203.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $842.03 and a 200-day moving average of $969.22.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.41 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow, Inc provides end to-end intelligent workflow automation platform solutions for digital businesses in the North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates the Now platform for end-to-end digital transformation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation, process mining, performance analytics, and collaboration and development tools.