ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Shares Up 3.7% – Should You Buy?

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s share price rose 3.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $107.69 and last traded at $107.0620. Approximately 22,732,089 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average daily volume of 20,202,980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on NOW. DZ Bank upgraded shares of ServiceNow to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $180.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $195.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Macquarie Infrastructure reduced their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $172.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of ServiceNow from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.01.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $139.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.45. The company has a market capitalization of $111.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The information technology services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 18.54% and a net margin of 13.16%.ServiceNow’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.17, for a total transaction of $151,755.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 46,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,697,323.10. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawrence Jackson sold 1,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.04, for a total transaction of $214,708.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $261,701.06. This represents a 45.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 14,770 shares of company stock worth $2,340,341 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in ServiceNow by 404.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,963,384 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,619,771,000 after purchasing an additional 81,752,460 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 worth $7,337,280,000 after buying an additional 38,441,898 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 404.8% in 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 buying an additional 18,854,775 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position 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 valued at $3,482,543,000 after acquiring an additional 17,514,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,020,992,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ServiceNow

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.