ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Sees Strong Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $814.00 to $830.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Approximately 1,080,854 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the previous session’s volume of 1,183,331 shares.The stock last traded at $702.41 and had previously closed at $746.29.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on NOW. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on ServiceNow from $800.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on ServiceNow from $885.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays raised their target price on ServiceNow from $765.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on ServiceNow from $896.00 to $906.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $782.85.

Insider Transactions at ServiceNow

In other news, insider Paul John Smith sold 5,159 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $745.32, for a total transaction of $3,845,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,064,229.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other ServiceNow news, insider Paul John Smith sold 5,159 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $745.32, for a total transaction of $3,845,105.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,064,229.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 5,030 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $753.08, for a total value of $3,787,992.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,935,655.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,164 shares of company stock valued at $9,940,303. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,648,259,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 69,354.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 821,648 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $580,486,000 after acquiring an additional 820,465 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 17.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,036,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,256,407,000 after acquiring an additional 595,697 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the first quarter valued at about $403,034,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 23.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,467,471 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,379,217,000 after acquiring an additional 461,614 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServiceNow Stock Down 4.0 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $761.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $706.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $147.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.97.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The information technology services provider reported $3.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 19.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 6.16 earnings per share for the current year.

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.