ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• ServiceNow's stock rating was upgraded from "hold" to "buy" by Wall Street Zen, reflecting positive expectations from analysts.
• Citigroup has raised its price target for ServiceNow shares from $1,160.00 to $1,234.00, indicating confidence in the company's future performance.
• ServiceNow reported a strong quarterly earnings performance with $4.09 EPS, exceeding expectations, and a revenue increase of 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,160.00 to $1,234.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,100.00 to $1,075.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of ServiceNow from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $1,040.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,121.37.

ServiceNow Stock Up 1.1%

NOW stock opened at $904.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. ServiceNow has a fifty-two week low of $678.66 and a fifty-two week high of $1,198.09. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $910.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $934.82. The stock has a market cap of $188.15 billion, a PE ratio of 113.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.92.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.52. ServiceNow had a net margin of 13.78% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 1,719 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $866.45, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 1,097 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.11, for a total transaction of $1,003,875.67. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,516,928.77. The trade was a 10.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,737 shares of company stock valued at $16,798,825 in the last ninety days. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,919,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 10.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,378 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 29.9% in the first quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 921 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Covea Finance boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 8.5% in the first quarter. Covea Finance now owns 39,665 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,579,000 after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Finally, Rockline Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 7.5% in the first quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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