ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price Up 0.5% – Here’s Why

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s share price shot up 0.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $986.78 and last traded at $979.79. 332,638 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 1,509,308 shares. The stock had previously closed at $974.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on ServiceNow from $1,010.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on ServiceNow from $1,275.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $975.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,025.00 price objective (up previously from $900.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,055.83.

ServiceNow Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a market cap of $203.09 billion, a PE ratio of 143.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $844.85 and a 200-day moving average of $970.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $985.00, for a total transaction of $188,135.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 4,332 shares in the company, valued at $4,267,020. This trade represents a 4.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 292 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,150 shares of company stock valued at $16,550,424 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at about $223,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 420 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 266 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in ServiceNow by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 44,793 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $47,486,000 after buying an additional 2,829 shares during the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is 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.