ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Upgraded by Truist Financial to Buy Rating

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Truist Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $1,200.00 price objective on the information technology services provider's stock, up from their previous price objective of $950.00. Truist Financial's target price indicates a potential upside of 22.79% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on NOW. Stifel Nicolaus set a $975.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,003.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ServiceNow from $1,100.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on ServiceNow from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,010.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,041.00.

ServiceNow Price Performance

Shares of ServiceNow stock traded up $19.29 on Thursday, reaching $977.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,667,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,512,546. The business's 50 day moving average is $839.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $968.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. ServiceNow has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The company has a market cap of $202.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.26. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.41 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, Director Deborah Black sold 598 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $940.23, for a total value of $562,257.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 428 shares of the company's stock, valued at $402,418.44. This represents a 58.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total transaction of $4,285,197.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,733,252.20. This trade represents a 28.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,618 shares of company stock worth $21,132,878 over the last quarter. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,199,258 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $20,353,517,000 after purchasing an additional 190,430 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,955,924 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $8,434,235,000 after purchasing an additional 509,467 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,878,900 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $6,232,339,000 after buying an additional 272,506 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,312,571 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,560,890,000 after buying an additional 100,670 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 87,501.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,689,361 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,141,108,000 after buying an additional 2,686,291 shares during the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.