KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 79,425 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $84,200,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 725.0% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NOW stock opened at $827.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $170.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $971.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $983.30. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52 week low of $637.99 and a 52 week high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts expect that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. This trade represents a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total transaction of $1,287,123.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,644,564.50. This represents a 32.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,100.31.

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.