Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Acquires 21,756 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its ServiceNow stake by 400% in the fourth quarter, buying 21,756 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 27,195 shares worth about $4.17 million.
• Institutional demand remains strong, with major investors like Vanguard, Geode Capital, Norges Bank, and Jennison also significantly adding to their ServiceNow positions; institutional ownership now stands at 87.18%.
• Analyst sentiment is still broadly positive despite some lower price targets: ServiceNow has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, and the company recently reported revenue and EPS that met or slightly beat expectations.

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 400.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,195 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 21,756 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in ServiceNow were worth $4,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 404.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,963,384 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $15,619,771,000 after acquiring an additional 81,752,460 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 404.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,512,428 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,591,425,000 after acquiring an additional 18,854,775 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,020,992,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,454,699 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $8,700,970,000 after acquiring an additional 131,080 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 280.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 8,432,389 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,291,758,000 after acquiring an additional 6,213,762 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC cut their price objective on ServiceNow from $226.00 to $171.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $134.00 price objective (up from $132.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on ServiceNow from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on ServiceNow from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $141.85.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 8,927 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.60, for a total transaction of $799,859.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 29,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,645,977.60. The trade was a 23.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Fipps sold 1,048 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.51, for a total value of $103,238.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 12,072 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,189,212.72. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have 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: ServiceNow is benefiting from a sector-wide rebound in software stocks after Snowflake’s strong earnings suggested AI is more of an opportunity than a threat for enterprise platforms. ServiceNow (NOW) Stock Trades Up, Here Is Why
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also responding to ServiceNow’s expanding AI narrative, including its position as a key platform for agentic AI workflows and enterprise automation. ServiceNow's stock soars toward historic month as AI fears fade across software
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage calling ServiceNow a buy at current levels and setting a higher price target is adding to the bullish sentiment around the stock’s valuation reset. Buy, Hold, or Sell: Is This Cloud Automation Juggernaut a Steal Following Its Massive Valuation Reset?
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum from partnerships and AI-related headlines, including Wipro’s expanded ServiceNow collaboration, is reinforcing the company’s relevance in enterprise automation. Wipro stock gains 4%: can its ServiceNow tie-up drive growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually high options activity suggests traders are positioning for continued volatility in ServiceNow shares. ServiceNow Sees Unusually High Options Volume NYSE: NOW

ServiceNow Price Performance

Shares of NOW opened at $124.56 on Monday. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $81.24 and a 52-week high of $211.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The business's 50 day moving average price is $98.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.39. The firm has a market cap of $128.42 billion, a PE ratio of 74.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.94.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 12.59%.The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

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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