Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Makes New Investment in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 543 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in ServiceNow by 725.0% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 2,511 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,012.09, for a total value of $2,541,357.99. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 4,332 shares in the company, valued at $4,384,373.88. This represents a 36.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total transaction of $1,287,123.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,644,564.50. This represents a 32.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,896 shares of company stock worth $19,568,441. 0.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NOW. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,275.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on ServiceNow from $1,230.00 to $1,050.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho decreased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,210.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,010.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,057.17.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NYSE NOW opened at $796.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $164.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.64, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $862.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $971.02. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 forecast that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.