Smith Moore & CO. Makes New Investment in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Smith Moore & CO. bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 197 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NOW. United Bank purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the third quarter worth $480,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 47.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,387,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 12,248 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,954,000 after buying an additional 2,491 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in ServiceNow by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,377 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in ServiceNow during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,605,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,210.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $716.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,086.00.

ServiceNow Trading Down 6.9 %

NYSE:NOW opened at $720.69 on Monday. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12 month low of $637.99 and a 12 month high of $1,198.09. The business’s 50-day moving average is $917.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $981.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.46 billion, a PE ratio of 105.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly 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 predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other ServiceNow news, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 $3,370,654.28. The trade was a 44.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 292 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total value of $297,124.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,080,123.85. The trade was a 8.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.