Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,160 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $6,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NOW. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 129 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $257,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of ServiceNow by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,553 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,706,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NYSE NOW opened at $1,040.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 152.30, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.97. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 1-year low of $637.99 and a 1-year high of $1,198.09. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $863.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $973.27.

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

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on ServiceNow from $716.00 to $724.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,100.00 target price (up previously from $970.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank set a $1,100.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of ServiceNow from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $925.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,062.50.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 62 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,023.00, for a total transaction of $63,426.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 4,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,431,636. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $986.64, for a total value of $378,869.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,525,636.96. This trade represents a 5.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,872 shares of company stock worth $13,261,400 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.38% 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.