Mizuho Has Lowered Expectations for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at Mizuho from $1,210.00 to $1,100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 35.46% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on NOW. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and issued a $716.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,114.24.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

NOW traded up $28.25 on Tuesday, reaching $812.08. The company had a trading volume of 1,478,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,747,648. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. ServiceNow has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.29 billion, a PE ratio of 119.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,011.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $985.64.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $3.67. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. As a group, research analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total transaction of $1,287,123.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,564.50. This trade represents a 32.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total value of $2,720,355.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,351 shares of company stock valued at $20,050,076. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServiceNow Company 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.