ServiceNow’s (NOW) “Market Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at JMP Securities

JMP Securities reiterated their market outperform rating on shares of ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $1,300.00 target price on the information technology services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on NOW. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServiceNow from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho upped their price target on ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,020.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp lowered ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $1,230.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,129.93.

ServiceNow Stock Down 11.5 %

ServiceNow stock opened at $1,011.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $208.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,085.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $952.30. ServiceNow has a twelve month low of $637.99 and a twelve month high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by ($1.74). ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.56%. On average, analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey A. Miller sold 2,879 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.12, for a total value of $2,934,046.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,920 shares in the company, valued at $43,740,630.40. This trade represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total transaction of $481,635.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,204,200.58. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,731 shares of company stock worth $21,016,751. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the 2nd quarter worth $18,421,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 8,337.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 30,544 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $24,028,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in ServiceNow by 8.1% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,122,000. Finally, Emprise Bank acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. 87.18% of the stock is currently 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.