Vest Financial LLC Raises Holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 22.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,214 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 220 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $1,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. Conning Inc. grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 1,239 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Seamount Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth $383,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its stake in ServiceNow by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 1,368 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,450,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,154 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,147,000 after buying an additional 1,105 shares during the period. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth about $4,021,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE NOW opened at $1,007.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. ServiceNow, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $637.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,198.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,080.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $963.81. The stock has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 147.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.99.

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

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NOW shares. Barclays upped their price target on ServiceNow from $980.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $906.00 to $913.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,432.00 to $1,426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,210.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $900.00 to $990.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,129.72.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

In related news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 66 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,048.29, for a total value of $69,187.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,173,173.83. This trade represents a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Tzitzon sold 313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,064.60, for a total value of $333,219.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,884,725.40. The trade was a 7.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,702 shares of company stock valued at $20,965,306. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

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.