AQR Capital Management LLC Buys 249,101 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. by 111% in Q1, acquiring an additional 249,101 shares to own a total of 473,609 shares valued at approximately $362.6 million.
• ServiceNow reported strong Q2 earnings with an EPS of $4.09, exceeding analyst expectations of $3.57, alongside a revenue increase of 22.4% year-over-year to $3.22 billion.
• Major hedge funds, including Vanguard and GAMMA Investing LLC, have also expanded their stakes in ServiceNow, contributing to a high institutional ownership rate of 87.18% among the company's stock.

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 111.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 473,609 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 249,101 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.23% of ServiceNow worth $362,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,496,992 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $15,522,335,000 after acquiring an additional 297,734 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in ServiceNow by 87,501.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,689,361 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,141,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686,291 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in ServiceNow by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,654,825 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,814,433,000 after purchasing an additional 87,876 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,343,840 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,484,752,000 after buying an additional 109,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the first quarter worth $1,817,535,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

NYSE NOW opened at $912.93 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. ServiceNow, Inc. has a twelve month low of $678.66 and a twelve month high of $1,198.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $943.00 and a 200 day moving average of $924.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.98, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.91.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.52. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 13.78%.The business had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on NOW. Bank of America upped their target price on ServiceNow from $1,110.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. DA Davidson upped their target price on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,115.20.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 1,698 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.26, for a total transaction of $1,501,473.48. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 4,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,830,614.32. This trade represents a 28.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 1,762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $866.45, for a total transaction of $1,526,684.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,228 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,594,950.60. This represents a 12.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,976 shares of company stock valued at $17,049,775 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.38% 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.

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