ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after Citizens Jmp lowered their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $157.00. The stock had previously closed at $103.07, but opened at $87.25. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. ServiceNow shares last traded at $86.3370, with a volume of 17,589,364 shares.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on NOW. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $155.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $188.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Macquarie Infrastructure lowered their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $172.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of ServiceNow to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, insider Paul Fipps sold 3,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.77, for a total value of $376,141.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $820,367.97. The trade was a 31.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kevin Thomas Mcbride sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.71, for a total transaction of $147,994.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,781,652.94. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 16,237 shares of company stock valued at $1,697,162 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting ServiceNow this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 revenue beat and company raised its annual subscription-revenue outlook, with management citing strong adoption of ServiceNow’s AI products as a growth driver. Earnings Beat & Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic momentum: deeper Google Cloud partnership and CEO comments emphasize AI-led product traction that could drive recurring revenue and long-term monetization. Google Cloud Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Armis acquisition completed (adds cyber‑exposure capability), a strategic tuck‑in that expands the product set but increases near‑term integration/expense complexity. Armis Acquisition
• Negative Sentiment: Management warned the Armis deal and acquisition-related costs will weigh on margins (roughly +75 bps FY headwind; ~125 bps in Q2), spooking investors focused on near‑term profitability. Margin Headwind
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical impact: ServiceNow cited delayed large deals in the Middle East (Iran conflict) that trimmed subscription growth this quarter — investors treated the disruption as a material near‑term revenue risk. Deal Delays from Iran War
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street reaction: multiple firms cut price targets and some trimmed forecasts after the call; that wave of downgrades magnified selling pressure. Analyst Price‑Target Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Sector contagion and positioning: ServiceNow’s miss‑/guidance mix reignited AI-disruption fears across software names, triggering a broad selloff and higher short interest that increased volatility. Sector Selloff

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 404.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,963,384 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,619,771,000 after acquiring an additional 81,752,460 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 406.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 47,896,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,337,280,000 after acquiring an additional 38,441,898 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 371.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,395,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,962,692,000 after acquiring an additional 25,517,218 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 404.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,512,428 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,591,425,000 after acquiring an additional 18,854,775 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 335.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,733,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,482,543,000 after acquiring an additional 17,514,679 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $105.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $87.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.01.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.49 earnings per share for the current year.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is a cloud computing company that builds enterprise software to manage digital workflows and automate business processes. Its offerings are designed to replace manual work and legacy systems with cloud-based, service-oriented applications that support IT operations, customer service, human resources, security response and other enterprise functions.

The company’s flagship product family is the Now Platform, a suite of subscription software and platform services that includes IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Business Management (ITBM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery, Security Operations and Asset Management.