ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Earns “Market Outperform” Rating from JMP Securities

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at JMP Securities in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,300.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock. JMP Securities’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 28.85% from the stock’s previous close.

NOW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $900.00 to $1,055.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $900.00 to $960.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $950.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on ServiceNow from $906.00 to $913.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,117.86.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

NYSE:NOW opened at $1,008.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $207.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.12, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.99. ServiceNow has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,085.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $952.30.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.67 by ($1.74). ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 16.03%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ServiceNow will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at ServiceNow

In other ServiceNow news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 12,271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $997.67, for a total value of $12,242,408.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,588,953.65. This trade represents a 82.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 value of $481,635.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 20,731 shares of company stock valued at $21,016,751 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NOW. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the third quarter worth about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 39 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 46.7% during the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 44 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is 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.