ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Trading 1.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)’s share price traded up 1.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $129.75 and last traded at $127.0890. Approximately 22,867,361 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 23,872,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NOW. KeyCorp reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (up from $135.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Capital One Financial lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $157.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.76.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $107.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.80. The firm has a market cap of $128.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.94.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.93 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 16.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, insider Paul Fipps sold 1,048 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.51, for a total value of $103,238.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 12,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,189,212.72. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NOW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 404.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,963,384 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,619,771,000 after buying an additional 81,752,460 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,536,615,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in ServiceNow by 406.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 47,896,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,337,280,000 after acquiring an additional 38,441,898 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in ServiceNow by 371.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,395,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,962,692,000 after acquiring an additional 25,517,218 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in ServiceNow by 404.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,512,428 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,591,425,000 after purchasing an additional 18,854,775 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is a cloud computing company that builds enterprise software to manage digital workflows and automate business processes. Its offerings are designed to replace manual work and legacy systems with cloud-based, service-oriented applications that support IT operations, customer service, human resources, security response and other enterprise functions.

The company’s flagship product family is the Now Platform, a suite of subscription software and platform services that includes IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Business Management (ITBM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery, Security Operations and Asset Management.