HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 525,128 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 198,271 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $52,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NOW. Florida Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in ServiceNow by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 514 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $473,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. American Trust grew its position in shares of ServiceNow by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 1,029 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $947,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 0.5% during the second quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 3,488 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,586,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 3.7% during the third quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 567 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NOW. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (up from $135.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.24.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Paul Chamberlain sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.50, for a total transaction of $365,850.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,960,645. This represents a 5.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul Fipps sold 2,034 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.87, for a total value of $300,767.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 18,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,706,760.35. This trade represents a 10.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,081 shares of company stock worth $1,937,904. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of ServiceNow stock opened at $141.31 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $146.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.32, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $118.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.20. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $81.24 and a 52-week high of $194.73.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 16.45%. ServiceNow’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow Profile

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is a cloud computing company that builds enterprise software to manage digital workflows and automate business processes. Its offerings are designed to replace manual work and legacy systems with cloud-based, service-oriented applications that support IT operations, customer service, human resources, security response and other enterprise functions.

The company’s flagship product family is the Now Platform, a suite of subscription software and platform services that includes IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Business Management (ITBM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery, Security Operations and Asset Management.