Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 281 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 19 shares during the quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in ServiceNow by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 210 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. bought a new position in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 7,577 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth about $409,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in ServiceNow by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,382,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NOW opened at $1,022.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52 week low of $637.99 and a 52 week high of $1,198.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.77, a PEG ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,081.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $961.64.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (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%. On average, analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on NOW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on ServiceNow from $950.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on ServiceNow from $950.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,129.72.

Insider Activity at ServiceNow

In other news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,007.41, for a total transaction of $418,075.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,737 shares in the company, valued at $1,749,871.17. This represents a 19.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 12,271 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $997.67, for a total transaction of $12,242,408.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,588,953.65. This represents a 82.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,702 shares of company stock worth $20,965,306. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.