Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $157.17 Million Position in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its ServiceNow stake by 5.6% in the first quarter, but still held 1.5 million shares valued at about $157.2 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: ServiceNow has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, with a consensus price target of $140.60 despite some recent target cuts.
• ServiceNow’s latest earnings showed 22.1% revenue growth year over year, with quarterly EPS of $0.97 matching expectations, while the stock was reported down 5.7% and insiders have recently sold shares.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,503,304 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 89,827 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.15% of ServiceNow worth $157,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,919,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 837 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 15.5% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 1,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,562,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 2.2% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,976,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC raised its position in ServiceNow by 205.1% during the second 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 in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NOW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $195.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $154.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $140.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 16,445 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 30,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,712,312.60. This trade represents a 35.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul Fipps sold 1,048 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.51, for a total value of $103,238.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,212.72. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders have sold 28,071 shares of company stock worth $2,529,956 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting ServiceNow

Here are the key news stories impacting ServiceNow this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on ServiceNow to $115 from $100, suggesting analysts still see upside and stable demand trends. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: New partner and government-contract announcements highlighted continued ecosystem momentum, including C1Secure’s ServiceNow-native FedRAMP 20x platform and Empower AI’s GSA enterprise IT award, both reinforcing ServiceNow’s role in AI-enabled workflow and public-sector modernization. Article Title Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary argues ServiceNow’s AI tools, including Now Assist, could become a stronger monetization driver as investors rotate toward application software. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analyst-style articles debated ServiceNow’s valuation and long-term prospects, with some calling it attractive for the rebound and others saying it is not the cheapest name in software. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: IBM’s revenue warning triggered a broader selloff in tech and dragged ServiceNow lower along with other enterprise software names like Accenture. Article Title Article Title

ServiceNow Stock Down 5.7%

ServiceNow stock opened at $104.90 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. ServiceNow, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.24 and a fifty-two week high of $210.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.31. The firm has a market cap of $108.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.96.

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. The company had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 12.59%.The firm's revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

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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