Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Position in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Franklin Resources sharply increased its ServiceNow stake by 222.1% in the fourth quarter, buying 4.85 million additional shares and ending with 7.04 million shares valued at about $1.08 billion.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 87.18% of ServiceNow shares, even as some smaller funds also added to their positions.
• ServiceNow reported solid quarterly results, including $0.97 adjusted EPS and $3.77 billion in revenue, with revenue up 22.1% year over year; analysts still rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $141.85.

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 222.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,037,379 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,852,839 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.67% of ServiceNow worth $1,078,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NOW. IAG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 27 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 400.0% during the 4th quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC now owns 160 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 400.0% during the 4th quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC now owns 165 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 540.0% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 160 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blueline Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 16,445 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.14, for a total value of $1,482,352.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 30,090 shares in the company, valued at $2,712,312.60. This trade represents a 35.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 8,927 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.60, for a total value of $799,859.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,645,977.60. This represents a 23.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,071 shares of company stock worth $2,529,956. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting ServiceNow

Here are the key news stories impacting ServiceNow this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New coverage highlights bullish catalysts for ServiceNow, including accelerating AI adoption, a model-agnostic architecture, and a possible path to $30 billion in revenue by 2030, which supports the long-term growth story. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Cognizant’s integration with ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower underscores growing demand for ServiceNow’s AI governance tools in regulated enterprise environments, potentially expanding use cases and customer adoption. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and recent commentary say EmployeeWorks is gaining traction quickly, with larger deals and broader AI adoption helping to reinforce ServiceNow’s growth narrative. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: ServiceNow’s recent conference appearances and transcript releases keep the company visible to investors, but they do not appear to contain a major new catalyst on their own. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Some valuation-focused coverage notes that the stock has had a mixed year, with a strong recent bounce offset by weaker longer-term performance, suggesting investors are still debating whether the rebound is justified. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple articles point to pressure on the shares from acquisition integration costs, deal delays, and intensifying competition, which are weighing on near-term expectations. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Friday’s decline is also being driven by a broader market sell-off, with enterprise software and other growth names facing risk-off trading as investors pull back from higher-valuation tech. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Additional commentary notes that large insider buying in ServiceNow occurred near the peak of earlier SaaS pessimism, highlighting how far sentiment and the stock have already fallen since then. Article Title

ServiceNow Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NOW opened at $112.45 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $99.48 and a 200 day moving average of $121.71. ServiceNow, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.24 and a fifty-two week high of $211.48. The firm has a market cap of $115.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NOW shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $134.00 target price (up from $132.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on ServiceNow from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on ServiceNow from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on ServiceNow from $210.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on ServiceNow from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.85.

ServiceNow 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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