ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Upgraded by Erste Group Bank to “Strong-Buy” Rating

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) was upgraded by stock analysts at Erste Group Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on NOW. Truist Financial upgraded ServiceNow from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $950.00 to $1,200.00 in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,025.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $881.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,041.00.

ServiceNow Price Performance

Shares of NOW opened at $958.88 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $838.19 and its 200-day moving average is $967.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.49 billion, a PE ratio of 140.39, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08. ServiceNow has a fifty-two week low of $637.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.78 by $0.26. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.41 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 292 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total transaction of $297,124.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,080,123.85. The trade was a 8.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total value of $2,720,355.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,618 shares of company stock worth $21,132,878 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NOW. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 113.3% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 32 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 620.0% during the first quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 36 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

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.