ServiceNow’s (NOW) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,210.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 18.61% from the company’s previous close.

NOW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded ServiceNow from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on ServiceNow from $1,071.00 to $1,432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on ServiceNow from $906.00 to $913.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and issued a $716.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,129.93.

ServiceNow Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NOW opened at $1,020.17 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,084.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $952.71. ServiceNow has a twelve month low of $637.99 and a twelve month high of $1,198.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.56% and a net margin of 12.97%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ServiceNow will post 8.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nicholas Tzitzon sold 313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,064.60, for a total value of $333,219.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,884,725.40. This represents a 7.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Anita M. Sands sold 2,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,064.60, for a total value of $2,372,993.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,710,600. The trade was a 16.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,731 shares of company stock valued at $21,016,751. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in ServiceNow in the third quarter worth $30,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 77.3% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 39 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 46.7% in the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 44 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ServiceNow Company 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.