Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 3,968 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in ServiceNow, Inc. by 4.2%, bringing its total holdings to 99,205 shares valued at approximately $78.98 million.
• ServiceNow reported a 22.4% year-over-year revenue growth with earnings per share of $4.09, exceeding estimates of $3.57.
• Insider sales included transactions by Paul Fipps and CFO Gina Mastantuono, resulting in a total of 12,302 shares sold valued at nearly $11 million in the last quarter.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 99,205 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,968 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $78,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 113.3% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 32 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new position in ServiceNow during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in ServiceNow by 620.0% during the first quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 36 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NOW. Barclays set a $1,210.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. FBN Securities upgraded shares of ServiceNow to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,160.00 to $1,234.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "sell" rating and set a $724.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,115.20.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 1,698 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.26, for a total value of $1,501,473.48. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 4,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,830,614.32. This represents a 28.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Fipps sold 1,452 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $895.05, for a total transaction of $1,299,612.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 457 shares of the company's stock, valued at $409,037.85. The trade was a 76.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,976 shares of company stock valued at $17,049,775. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

NOW traded up $8.58 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $920.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,313,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,714,221. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. ServiceNow, Inc. has a one year low of $678.66 and a one year high of $1,198.09. The firm has a market cap of $191.36 billion, a PE ratio of 115.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.91. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $943.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $924.15.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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.