Ithaka Group LLC Sells 2,585 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Ithaka Group LLC lessened its stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,585 shares during the period. ServiceNow accounts for 8.5% of Ithaka Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $46,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NOW. CFO4Life Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 81,013 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $87,257,000 after buying an additional 8,316 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,603,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in ServiceNow by 131.3% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total transaction of $1,287,123.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total value of $481,635.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,204,200.58. This represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on NOW shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,025.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,000.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $716.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,114.24.

ServiceNow Price Performance

NYSE:NOW opened at $844.27 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,002.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $984.53. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12 month low of $637.99 and a 12 month high of $1,198.09. The firm has a market cap of $173.92 billion, a PE ratio of 123.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $3.67. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.