Brown Advisory Inc. Has $1.54 Billion Stock Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Brown Advisory Inc. decreased its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,452,737 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 263,576 shares during the period. ServiceNow makes up about 2.0% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.71% of ServiceNow worth $1,540,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 1.0% in 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 buying an additional 190,430 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,955,924 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,434,235,000 after acquiring an additional 509,467 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,878,900 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,232,339,000 after acquiring an additional 272,506 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,312,571 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,560,890,000 after purchasing an additional 100,670 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth about $2,603,360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 415 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,007.41, for a total transaction of $418,075.15. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,749,871.17. The trade was a 19.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 292 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total value of $297,124.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,080,123.85. The trade was a 8.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,618 shares of company stock valued at $21,132,878 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,100.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays set a $969.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,075.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $716.00 to $724.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,041.00.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NOW opened at $977.24 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $839.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $968.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.08, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $637.99 and a 52-week high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.78 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.