Welch & Forbes LLC Grows Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,254 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,970 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $23,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the third quarter worth about $30,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 725.0% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total value of $1,287,123.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,644,564.50. This represents a 32.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total transaction of $2,720,355.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,370,654.28. This trade represents a 44.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James assumed coverage on ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,200.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on ServiceNow from $900.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on ServiceNow in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $1,332.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on ServiceNow from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,129.72.

ServiceNow Price Performance

ServiceNow stock opened at $865.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $178.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,022.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $983.75. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-month high of $1,198.09. 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 announced its earnings results 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%. Equities analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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