Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Key Points

• Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. by 61.4% during the first quarter, bringing their total shares to 1,926, valued at approximately $1.53 million.
• Several analysts upgraded their price targets for ServiceNow, with Bank of America raising theirs to $1,200 and Citigroup to $1,234, maintaining a "buy" rating.
• ServiceNow reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with revenue growth of 22.4% year-over-year.

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 61.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,926 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 733 shares during the quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in ServiceNow were worth $1,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NOW. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 620.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the first quarter valued at $33,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson lifted their price target on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,150.00 price target (up from $1,100.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on ServiceNow from $1,125.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,115.20.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NOW stock traded down $10.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $918.49. 1,881,767 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,918,130. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $945.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $924.70. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12 month low of $678.66 and a 12 month high of $1,198.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.68, a PEG ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.91.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.52. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 13.78%.The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other ServiceNow news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,585 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $1,426,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,195,100. The trade was a 11.30% 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, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 1,698 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $884.26, for a total value of $1,501,473.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 4,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,830,614.32. This represents a 28.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,302 shares of company stock valued at $10,956,796. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.