Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Raises Holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its ServiceNow stake by 392.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 17,905 shares valued at about $2.74 million.
• ServiceNow’s latest quarter met expectations, with EPS of $0.97 on $3.77 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 22.1% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains constructive overall: ServiceNow has a Moderate Buy consensus and a $141.89 average price target, even as some insiders have recently sold shares.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its position in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 392.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,905 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,267 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.'s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $2,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 1.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 4.2% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 837 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 15.5% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 1,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,976,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 205.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 906 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company's stock.

ServiceNow Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE NOW opened at $101.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $104.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.61, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.82. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 1 year low of $81.24 and a 1 year high of $211.48. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.48.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.97. The business had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NOW. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of ServiceNow from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $140.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Evercore increased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Argus lowered their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $180.00 to $134.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Macquarie Infrastructure lowered their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $172.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $150.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.89.

Insider Activity

In other ServiceNow news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.23, for a total value of $130,845.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 44,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,919,243.90. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 transaction of $799,859.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 29,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,645,977.60. The trade was a 23.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 31,767 shares of company stock worth $2,906,098 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about ServiceNow

Here are the key news stories impacting ServiceNow this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reinstated ServiceNow with a Buy rating and $130 price target, saying the company is well positioned for the agentic AI era. BofA Reinstates Coverage of ServiceNow, Salesforce. It Says 1 Is an AI Beneficiary.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and media reports said concerns about AI disrupting ServiceNow may be overblown and that AI could instead strengthen its enterprise workflow business. ServiceNow Stock Has Been Battered By AI Disruption Worries. These Experts Think AI Will Actually Boost Its Business
• Positive Sentiment: ServiceNow’s partnership with Experian and its new AI governance products support the view that the company is becoming more central to enterprise AI infrastructure. ServiceNow (NOW) Partners With Experian to Power Autonomous AI Agents With Trusted Data
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader software-sector strength is also helping NOW, as investors rotate back into beaten-down application software names. ServiceNow’s stock heads for best day in a year — flashing a green light for the software sector
• Negative Sentiment: Some reports still point to lingering valuation and “SaaSpocalypse” concerns, suggesting the rebound may not be fully settled yet. ServiceNow stock flashes a death cross amid rising SaaSpocalypse concerns

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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