Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target points to a potential upside of 20.22% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on NOW. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup lifted their target price on ServiceNow from $1,071.00 to $1,432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on ServiceNow from $900.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their target price on ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,210.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,127.34.

ServiceNow Stock Down 12.7 %

Shares of NOW traded down $145.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $998.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,619,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,516,892. ServiceNow has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-month high of $1,198.09. The stock has a market cap of $205.62 billion, a PE ratio of 155.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,085.21 and its 200 day moving average is $952.30.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by ($1.74). ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.77% and a return on equity of 16.03%. Equities analysts anticipate that ServiceNow will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ServiceNow news, Director Jeffrey A. Miller sold 2,879 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,019.12, for a total transaction of $2,934,046.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,920 shares in the company, valued at $43,740,630.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 455 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,058.54, for a total value of $481,635.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,204,200.58. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,731 shares of company stock worth $21,016,751. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 497 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 459 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,146 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in ServiceNow by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,622 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,779,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network lifted its position in ServiceNow by 1.4% in the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 895 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is owned by 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.