ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Receives Market Outperform Rating from JMP Securities

JMP Securities reiterated their market outperform rating on shares of ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $1,300.00 target price on the information technology services provider's stock.

NOW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho increased their target price on ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,045.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of ServiceNow from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,071.00 to $1,432.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $980.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,129.93.

ServiceNow Trading Down 11.5 %

ServiceNow stock traded down $131.96 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $1,011.67. 6,195,277 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,655,699. ServiceNow has a 12 month low of $637.99 and a 12 month high of $1,198.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $1,085.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $952.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $208.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.34, a PEG ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.99.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.67 by ($1.74). ServiceNow had a return on equity of 16.03% and a net margin of 12.77%. Analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total value of $481,635.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,204,200.58. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 2,229 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,710,600. The trade was a 16.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,731 shares of company stock worth $21,016,751 over the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 499,668.1% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,772,785 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,268,731,000 after acquiring an additional 4,771,830 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 89,137.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,185,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,059,912,000 after buying an additional 1,183,739 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in ServiceNow by 216.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,367,875 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,206,178,000 after buying an additional 935,848 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,169,531 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,834,797,000 after buying an additional 615,797 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 9.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,606,394 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $5,014,302,000 after acquiring an additional 502,845 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.