OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Acquires New Stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,802,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in ServiceNow by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 824,725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $874,258,000 after buying an additional 12,533 shares in the last quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in ServiceNow by 3.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. Rheos Capital Works Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth $10,071,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position 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 worth $6,232,339,000 after acquiring an additional 272,506 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NOW opened at $1,037.43 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $850.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $971.49. The firm has a market cap of $214.75 billion, a PE ratio of 151.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.97. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-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.

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

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 191 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $985.00, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 384 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $986.64, for a total transaction of $378,869.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,614 shares in the company, valued at $6,525,636.96. This represents a 5.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,844 shares of company stock valued at $14,204,938 over the last quarter. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,280.00 to $1,025.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on ServiceNow from $1,275.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,128.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $975.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,055.83.

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.