Norges Bank Buys Shares of 2,455,722 ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,455,722 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,603,360,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. United Bank bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter valued at about $480,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 410 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,277 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 104.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,113 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $995,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the third quarter valued at $30,000. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,275.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group cut their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,000.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,230.00 to $1,050.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on ServiceNow from $1,210.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,093.76.

ServiceNow Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NOW stock opened at $838.54 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $172.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.77, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. ServiceNow, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $637.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,198.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $960.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $984.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. Research analysts forecast that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

In other news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total transaction of $2,720,355.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. The trade was a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,351 shares of company stock valued at $20,050,076 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow 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.