Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 373 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 131.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in ServiceNow in the third quarter worth $30,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ServiceNow Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NOW stock opened at $810.27 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,006.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $985.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.63, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03.

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, 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, analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow announced 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,210.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on ServiceNow from $900.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on ServiceNow from $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $950.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,025.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,114.24.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total value of $2,720,355.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 292 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total value of $297,124.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,080,123.85. This represents a 8.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock valued at $20,050,076. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.