ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Trading Up 4.4% – What’s Next?

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s stock price rose 4.4% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $827.98 and last traded at $818.45. Approximately 1,049,830 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 1,737,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $783.83.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NOW. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,275.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $1,230.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,210.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,114.24.

ServiceNow Trading Up 3.4 %

The company has a market cap of $166.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,011.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $985.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 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, analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In other news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,733,252.20. This represents a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total transaction of $481,635.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,204,200.58. This represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,351 shares of company stock valued at $20,050,076 in the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Quarry LP acquired a new position in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. 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.