Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,210.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 18.61% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on NOW. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ServiceNow from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $900.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp lowered shares of ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $1,332.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $716.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.93.

ServiceNow Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ServiceNow stock opened at $1,020.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $210.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.37, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. ServiceNow has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-month high of $1,198.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $1,084.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $952.71.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted 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 17.56%. On average, analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has initiated a share 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 repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,047.95, for a total value of $314,385.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,968,892.65. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 76 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.94, for a total transaction of $76,831.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at $3,060,115.38. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,731 shares of company stock valued at $21,016,751 in the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in ServiceNow by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 39 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 46.7% in the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 44 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is 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.