Scotiabank Has Lowered Expectations for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from $1,230.00 to $1,050.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price points to a potential upside of 24.95% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on NOW. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on ServiceNow from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,210.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,432.00 to $1,426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,108.03.

ServiceNow Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NOW traded down $3.96 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $840.37. 432,422 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,328,133. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $992.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $985.70. The company has a market cap of $173.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. ServiceNow has a 1-year low of $637.99 and a 1-year high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released 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 17.11%. Research analysts expect that ServiceNow will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at $10,733,252.20. The trade was a 28.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total value of $2,720,355.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Quarry LP purchased a new position in ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in ServiceNow by 725.0% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

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.