Kovack Advisors Inc. Raises Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,084 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $4,330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. Modera Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter worth $244,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in ServiceNow by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,305,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC purchased a new position in ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter worth $241,000. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in ServiceNow by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 2,332 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in ServiceNow by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on NOW. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, 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 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServiceNow news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total transaction of $4,285,197.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. This represents a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,047.95, for a total transaction of $314,385.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,467 shares in the company, valued at $10,968,892.65. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,706 shares of company stock valued at $17,644,106 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE NOW opened at $941.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.99. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $637.99 and a 52-week high of $1,198.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,044.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $981.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. Equities research analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

ServiceNow 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.