Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. significantly reduced its stake in ServiceNow, Inc. by 60.9% during the second quarter, holding only 704 shares valued at $724,000 after selling 1,096 shares.
• Analysts have been optimistic about ServiceNow, with target prices raised significantly by firms like DA Davidson and Citigroup, reflecting a strong consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Insider selling activity has been notable, with General Counsel Russell S. Elmer and Director Anita M. Sands selling shares, indicating a decrease in insider ownership over the past ninety days.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. reduced its position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 60.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 704 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,096 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.'s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,919,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 10.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,689,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 21.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,342 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $5,845,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 5.0% in the first quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $936,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Field & Main Bank raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 6.8% in the first quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 2,049 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,631,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on NOW shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised ServiceNow from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $1,040.00 to $1,250.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,150.00 price target (up from $1,100.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on ServiceNow from $1,160.00 to $1,234.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised ServiceNow from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,121.37.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

In related news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 1,698 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $884.26, for a total transaction of $1,501,473.48. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 4,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,830,614.32. This trade represents a 28.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,097 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.11, for a total value of $1,003,875.67. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,516,928.77. This represents a 10.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,737 shares of company stock valued at $16,798,825 in the last ninety days. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NYSE:NOW opened at $936.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.92. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $678.66 and a 52-week high of $1,198.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $914.81 and a 200 day moving average of $938.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

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

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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