Bank of America Reaffirms Buy Rating for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

Key Points

• Bank of America reiterated its buy rating on ServiceNow and set a $130 price target, implying about 36.6% upside from the previous close.
• Analysts remain generally positive on the stock, with MarketBeat showing a Moderate Buy consensus and a $141.89 average target price despite some recent target cuts from other firms.
• ServiceNow recently reported Q1 earnings in line with expectations at $0.97 EPS and $3.77 billion in revenue, with revenue growing 22.1% year over year.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities researchers at Bank of America in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $130.00 target price on the information technology services provider's stock. Bank of America's price objective points to a potential upside of 36.62% from the stock's previous close.

NOW has been the topic of several other research reports. Capital One Financial upped their price target on ServiceNow from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of ServiceNow from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $125.00 to $118.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $226.00 to $171.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $188.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.89.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NYSE:NOW opened at $95.15 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. ServiceNow has a 52 week low of $81.24 and a 52 week high of $211.48. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $100.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.10 billion, a PE ratio of 56.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.82.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.97. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that ServiceNow will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In other news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 8,927 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.60, for a total transaction of $799,859.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 29,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,645,977.60. The trade was a 23.21% 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 Paul Fipps sold 3,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $820,367.97. This represents a 31.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 22,415 shares of company stock worth $2,210,933 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 52.2% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 703,223 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $73,522,000 after purchasing an additional 241,236 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 109.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 688,863 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $72,021,000 after purchasing an additional 359,854 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 12.3% in the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 303,756 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,758,000 after purchasing an additional 33,336 shares during the period. Family Manage LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 1,013.9% during the first quarter. Family Manage LLC now owns 42,538 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,447,000 after buying an additional 38,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the first quarter worth about $449,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company's stock.

ServiceNow Company Profile

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.

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