ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Trading 2.9% Higher - Here's Why

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) shares rose 2.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $1,014.89 and last traded at $1,008.19. Approximately 437,341 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 1,512,020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $980.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $1,048.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank raised ServiceNow from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $1,100.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on ServiceNow from $1,010.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on ServiceNow from $1,060.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,055.83.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $210.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $844.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $970.58.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.41 earnings per share. ServiceNow's revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.46, for a total transaction of $419,340.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,335,828.12. This represents a 23.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 1,023 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $988.00, for a total value of $1,010,724.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 4,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,280,016. This represents a 19.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,259 shares of company stock valued at $14,624,279 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOW. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $2,141,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,686,291 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth about $2,603,360,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its position in ServiceNow by 1,586.5% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 933,209 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $742,965,000 after acquiring an additional 877,875 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 131.4% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 840,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 154,255.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 666,815 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 666,383 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is currently 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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