ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Jumps 2.7% – Should You Buy?

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) traded up 2.7% on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $141.54 and last traded at $140.70. 10,761,491 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 22,616,320 shares. The stock had previously closed at $137.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on NOW. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $175.00 target price (up from $160.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Friday, July 17th. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.00.

ServiceNow Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $140.54 billion, a PE ratio of 85.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $125.94 and its 200-day moving average is $110.70.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.04. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 16.45% and a net margin of 11.34%.The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, Director Paul Chamberlain sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.50, for a total value of $365,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,960,645. This represents a 5.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline Canney sold 7,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.00, for a total transaction of $1,082,886.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 30,042 shares in the company, valued at $4,145,796. The trade was a 20.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 14,081 shares of company stock valued at $1,937,904 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in ServiceNow by 6.8% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 132,947 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,199,000 after buying an additional 8,486 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 61.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 52,800 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,242,000 after buying an additional 20,173 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,038,218 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,868,514,000 after acquiring an additional 979,726 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,705,240 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $268,576,000 after acquiring an additional 147,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 45.9% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 132,411 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,146,000 after acquiring an additional 41,653 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Company Profile

ServiceNow, Inc is a cloud-based enterprise software company that provides digital workflow and automation solutions. Its Now Platform enables organizations to manage and connect business processes across information technology, customer service, human resources, finance, legal operations and other departments.

The company’s products and services include IT service management, IT operations management, customer service management, human resources service delivery, security operations, risk and compliance management, strategic portfolio management and application development tools.