William Blair Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by analysts at William Blair in a note issued to investors on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on NOW. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and issued a $716.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,432.00 to $1,426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.72.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NYSE NOW opened at $850.54 on Friday. ServiceNow has a 12 month low of $637.99 and a 12 month high of $1,198.09. 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 capitalization of $175.21 billion, a PE ratio of 124.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,017.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $984.89.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total transaction of $2,720,355.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,370,654.28. The trade was a 44.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total transaction of $481,635.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,204,200.58. The trade was a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,351 shares of company stock valued at $20,050,076 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD increased its stake in ServiceNow by 57.0% in the third quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD now owns 2,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,802,000. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in ServiceNow by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,154 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,147,000 after buying an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow by 39.4% in the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 488 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow by 36.4% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,565,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

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.