ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $814.00 to $830.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. 1,080,854 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the previous session's volume of 1,183,331 shares.The stock last traded at $702.41 and had previously closed at $746.29.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on NOW. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $750.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $1,000.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $780.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on ServiceNow from $875.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $782.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul John Smith sold 5,159 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $745.32, for a total transaction of $3,845,105.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,064,229.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 5,030 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.08, for a total transaction of $3,787,992.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,935,655.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul John Smith sold 5,159 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $745.32, for a total value of $3,845,105.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,064,229.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,164 shares of company stock worth $9,940,303 in the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,753,781 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $9,923,653,000 after purchasing an additional 122,577 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,036,796 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,256,407,000 after buying an additional 595,697 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in ServiceNow by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,521,190 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,781,195,000 after buying an additional 53,719 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,648,259,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,281,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,612,032,000 after acquiring an additional 81,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company's stock.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day moving average price is $760.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $706.80. The firm has a market cap of $147.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The information technology services provider reported $3.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $2.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 6.16 earnings per share for the current 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.