ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price Down 1.8% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Shares of ServiceNow fell about 1.8% to roughly $848 on Thursday (intraday low $843.98) with trading volume slightly below the daily average.
• ServiceNow posted an earnings beat — EPS $4.82 vs. $4.21 and revenue $3.41B (+21.8% YoY) — and analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target near $1,159.66.
• The company will execute a 5-for-1 stock split before market open on Friday, December 5, with new shares payable after the close on December 4.

Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) were down 1.8% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $843.98 and last traded at $848.7110. Approximately 1,616,069 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 1,642,733 shares. The stock had previously closed at $864.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NOW. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and set a $1,093.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,160.00 to $1,150.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,150.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $1,150.00 price target (up previously from $1,100.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,159.66.

ServiceNow Trading Down 1.8%

The firm has a market cap of $176.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.63, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $917.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $950.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

ServiceNow shares are going to split before the market opens on Friday, December 5th. The 5-1 split was announced on Wednesday, October 29th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, December 4th.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $4.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.21 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 13.66%.ServiceNow's revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 1,698 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $884.26, for a total transaction of $1,501,473.48. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 4,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,830,614.32. This represents a 28.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul Fipps sold 1,452 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $895.05, for a total value of $1,299,612.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 457 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $409,037.85. This represents a 76.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 16,980 shares of company stock valued at $15,178,834 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOW. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 1st quarter worth $382,000. Corient IA LLC purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the first quarter worth about $796,000. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new position in ServiceNow during the first quarter worth about $19,278,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in ServiceNow by 131.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,480,526 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,178,706,000 after acquiring an additional 840,731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in ServiceNow by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 451 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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