ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Raised to "Overweight" at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley upgraded ServiceNow from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating, with a price target of $1,250.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.65% from its current price.
• ServiceNow reported quarterly earnings of $4.09 per share, exceeding estimates by $0.52 and achieving a revenue of $3.22 billion, which marks a 22.4% increase year-over-year.
• Insider transactions occurred recently, including Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon selling 1,719 shares, which represents a 36.43% decrease in his ownership of the stock.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $1,250.00 price target on the information technology services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential upside of 34.65% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on NOW. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,110.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on ServiceNow from $1,160.00 to $1,234.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays set a $1,210.00 price objective on ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,122.20.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NOW opened at $928.34 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $193.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $921.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $924.54. ServiceNow has a 1 year low of $678.66 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.52. The firm 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that ServiceNow will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 1,719 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $866.45, for a total value of $1,489,427.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,599,350. This trade represents a 36.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.11, for a total value of $1,003,875.67. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,516,928.77. This trade represents a 10.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,976 shares of company stock worth $17,049,775. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NOW. Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 0.9% during the first quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,176 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $936,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 0.5% in the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,045 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,628,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in ServiceNow by 2.5% during the first quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 459 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its position in ServiceNow by 2.5% during the first quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 450 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, one8zero8 LLC lifted its position in ServiceNow by 3.2% during the first quarter. one8zero8 LLC now owns 356 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServiceNow Company Profile

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.

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