Sheets Smith Investment Management Takes Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Sheets Smith Investment Management acquired a new stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,073 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 27,420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,070,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth about $189,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,199,258 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,353,517,000 after purchasing an additional 190,430 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth about $236,000. Finally, Richwood Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,382 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,706,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ServiceNow stock opened at $827.92 on Monday. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $971.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $985.39. The company has a market capitalization of $170.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. As a group, equities analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in 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 leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,275.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,210.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,100.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total transaction of $1,287,123.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,564.50. This trade represents a 32.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total value of $2,720,355.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ServiceNow Profile

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.