FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Increases Stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co raised its position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,477 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $1,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in ServiceNow during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in ServiceNow by 725.0% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total value of $481,635.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at $10,733,252.20. This trade represents a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,706 shares of company stock worth $17,644,106 in the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,432.00 to $1,426.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on ServiceNow from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,025.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp lowered ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.72.

ServiceNow Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NOW stock opened at $941.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,044.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $981.23. ServiceNow, Inc. has a twelve month low of $637.99 and a twelve month high of $1,198.09. The company has a market capitalization of $194.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.89, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. Research analysts forecast that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.