ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.52 EPS

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The information technology services provider reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.52, Briefing.com reports. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 13.78%. The company had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

ServiceNow Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:NOW traded down $28.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $968.05. 1,998,443 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,453,700. ServiceNow has a 52 week low of $678.66 and a 52 week high of $1,198.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $200.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,000.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $952.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NOW. Evercore ISI raised their target price on ServiceNow from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,125.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,114.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In other news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 2,050 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,012.01, for a total transaction of $2,074,620.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 6,614 shares in the company, valued at $6,693,434.14. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 292 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $985.00, for a total value of $287,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 11,198 shares in the company, valued at $11,030,030. This trade represents a 2.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,003 shares of company stock worth $6,015,106 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in ServiceNow stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,753 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in ServiceNow were worth $2,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company's stock.

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.