Wall Street Zen Downgrades ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) to Hold

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on NOW. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on ServiceNow from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $200.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on ServiceNow from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.06.

ServiceNow Price Performance

ServiceNow stock opened at $108.02 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.27. ServiceNow has a 12 month low of $98.00 and a 12 month high of $211.48. The company has a market cap of $112.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.76, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The information technology services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.03. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 18.54% and a net margin of 13.16%.The business had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other ServiceNow news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.17, for a total value of $151,755.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 46,430 shares in the company, valued at $4,697,323.10. This represents a 3.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Fipps sold 9,641 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.93, for a total value of $1,021,271.13. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 11,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,245,419.01. The trade was a 45.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 18,312 shares of company stock worth $2,049,912. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of ServiceNow by 404.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,963,384 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,619,771,000 after buying an additional 81,752,460 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in ServiceNow by 406.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 47,896,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,337,280,000 after acquiring an additional 38,441,898 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in ServiceNow by 371.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,395,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,962,692,000 after purchasing an additional 25,517,218 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 404.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,512,428 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,591,425,000 after purchasing an additional 18,854,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 335.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,733,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,482,543,000 after purchasing an additional 17,514,679 shares during the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting ServiceNow

Here are the key news stories impacting ServiceNow this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Technicals and analyst optimism: Several outlets note NOW is deeply oversold after a ~50% drawdown and some brokerages have high price targets (Citigroup $237 noted), creating a contrarian upside case if the $100 area holds. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New AI product launches: ServiceNow unveiled Autonomous Workforce and EmployeeWorks to extend AI-driven orchestration and enterprise automation — a strategic move to monetize AI across workflows rather than be displaced by it. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational proof points: ServiceNow reports it resolves ~90% of its own IT requests autonomously, which management can use to demonstrate ROI to customers and accelerate sales. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Ecosystem and compliance wins: Moveworks from ServiceNow has FedRAMP Moderate authorization (opens public‑sector sales) and ServiceNow AVR integration with Contrast Security strengthens enterprise security credentials. Read More. and Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative positioning: Analysts comparing GitLab and ServiceNow see NOW’s large‑deal momentum and deep workflow integrations as advantages, but the piece highlights competitive and macro headwinds in the enterprise software space. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnership/marketing momentum: EY collaboration and third‑party integrations (e.g., startups building ServiceNow ties) support long‑term adoption but are incremental near‑term drivers. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director/insider Paul Fipps sold 3,696 shares (~$376k) on Feb 23, trimming his stake — an isolated insider sale that can be read negatively by some investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Rising short interest and narrative risk: Short interest rose markedly in February (~28% increase), and ongoing media/analyst debate about AI eroding software growth is keeping sentiment weak and amplifying volatility. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor patience tested: Coverage notes that rolling out AI products and integrating acquisitions (Moveworks) is necessary but may test investor patience as management demonstrates real revenue and margin benefits. Read More.

ServiceNow Company Profile

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is a cloud computing company that builds enterprise software to manage digital workflows and automate business processes. Its offerings are designed to replace manual work and legacy systems with cloud-based, service-oriented applications that support IT operations, customer service, human resources, security response and other enterprise functions.

The company’s flagship product family is the Now Platform, a suite of subscription software and platform services that includes IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Business Management (ITBM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery, Security Operations and Asset Management.