ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Receives Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,210.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.67% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on NOW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on ServiceNow from $950.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,071.00 to $1,432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp cut ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.93.

ServiceNow Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NOW stock opened at $1,019.65 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,084.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $952.71. The firm has a market cap of $210.05 billion, a PE ratio of 150.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.99. ServiceNow has a 1-year low of $637.99 and a 1-year high of $1,198.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.56% and a net margin of 12.97%. On average, analysts predict that ServiceNow will post 8.98 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In related news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 12,271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $997.67, for a total transaction of $12,242,408.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,588,953.65. The trade was a 82.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 76 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.94, for a total transaction of $76,831.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,060,115.38. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,731 shares of company stock valued at $21,016,751 over the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its position in ServiceNow by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 497 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 459 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow by 1.0% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,146 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,622 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,779,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network increased its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 1.4% in the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 895 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

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.