ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NOW. Morgan Stanley downgraded ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $900.00 to $960.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho increased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,129.72.

ServiceNow Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOW opened at $989.70 on Tuesday. ServiceNow has a twelve month low of $637.99 and a twelve month high of $1,198.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $203.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,075.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $969.56.

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

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 1,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,335,828.12. This represents a 23.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 12,271 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $997.67, for a total value of $12,242,408.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,588,953.65. The trade was a 82.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,257 shares of company stock valued at $23,579,376. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NOW. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in ServiceNow by 725.0% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.