Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the information technology services provider's stock. Oppenheimer's price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.22% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,210.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank assumed coverage on ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $1,230.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $980.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on ServiceNow from $900.00 to $990.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,127.34.

ServiceNow Trading Down 12.7 %

NYSE:NOW traded down $145.46 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $998.17. The company had a trading volume of 3,619,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,516,892. The company has a market capitalization of $205.62 billion, a PE ratio of 155.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,085.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $952.30. ServiceNow has a 52 week low of $637.99 and a 52 week high of $1,198.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by ($1.74). ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 16.03%. On average, equities research analysts predict that ServiceNow will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServiceNow news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 2,229 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,064.60, for a total value of $2,372,993.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $11,710,600. This represents a 16.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 76 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.94, for a total value of $76,831.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,060,115.38. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,731 shares of company stock worth $21,016,751. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 57.0% during the 3rd quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD now owns 2,701 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth about $48,802,000. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 488 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,565,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. acquired a new position in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter worth about $105,090,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company's stock.

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.

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