Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 131,494 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,391 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.06% of ServiceNow worth $139,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD increased its stake in ServiceNow by 57.0% in the 3rd quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD now owns 2,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth $48,802,000. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,154 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. acquired a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth about $105,090,000. Finally, Rheos Capital Works Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,071,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NOW shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,010.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,275.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,093.76.

ServiceNow Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE NOW opened at $828.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $170.72 billion, a PE ratio of 121.34, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $955.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $983.64. ServiceNow, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $637.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,198.09. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServiceNow news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total transaction of $481,635.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,204,200.58. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 90 days, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.