Empire Life Investments Inc. Buys New Stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Empire Life Investments Inc. bought a new stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,607 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 499,668.1% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,772,785 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,268,731,000 after purchasing an additional 4,771,830 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 89,137.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,185,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,059,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,739 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 216.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,367,875 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,206,178,000 after acquiring an additional 935,848 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 24.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,169,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,834,797,000 after acquiring an additional 615,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 9.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,606,394 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,014,302,000 after acquiring an additional 502,845 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE NOW opened at $985.67 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. The firm has a market cap of $203.05 billion, a PE ratio of 144.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.99. ServiceNow, Inc. has a one year low of $637.99 and a one year high of $1,198.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,073.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $969.70.

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%. Analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 94 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,016.54, for a total transaction of $95,554.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at $3,077,066.58. The trade was a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 12,271 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $997.67, for a total transaction of $12,242,408.57. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,588,953.65. The trade was a 82.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,257 shares of company stock worth $23,579,376 over the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $980.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,210.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and issued a $716.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.72.

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.