SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Takes Position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,908 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,143,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in ServiceNow by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,077,547 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,118,867,000 after purchasing an additional 226,023 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 9.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,606,394 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,014,302,000 after buying an additional 502,845 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 499,668.1% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,772,785 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,268,731,000 after buying an additional 4,771,830 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,211,901 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,753,828,000 after buying an additional 78,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 24.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,169,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,834,797,000 after buying an additional 615,797 shares during the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServiceNow Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE NOW opened at $929.56 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,038.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $982.80. ServiceNow, Inc. has a one year low of $637.99 and a one year high of $1,198.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 136.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

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

ServiceNow declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServiceNow news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total value of $2,720,355.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. The trade was a 28.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,351 shares of company stock valued at $20,050,076 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NOW shares. Raymond James started coverage on ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,200.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Scotiabank started coverage on ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $1,230.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,432.00 to $1,426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,129.72.

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.