Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,210.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.44% from the company’s current price.

NOW has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on ServiceNow from $860.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,020.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,125.62.

ServiceNow Stock Down 12.9 %

Shares of NOW stock traded down $147.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $996.41. The stock had a trading volume of 3,344,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,489,258. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,085.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $952.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.99. ServiceNow has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-month high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by ($1.74). ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 16.03%. On average, analysts predict that ServiceNow will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total value of $481,635.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,204,200.58. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 12,271 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $997.67, for a total transaction of $12,242,408.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,588,953.65. This trade represents a 82.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,731 shares of company stock valued at $21,016,751. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in ServiceNow by 499,668.1% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,772,785 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,268,731,000 after acquiring an additional 4,771,830 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow by 89,137.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,185,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,059,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,739 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in ServiceNow by 216.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,367,875 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,206,178,000 after purchasing an additional 935,848 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in ServiceNow by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,169,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,834,797,000 after purchasing an additional 615,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,606,394 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,014,302,000 after purchasing an additional 502,845 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.