Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Invests $228,000 in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 215 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in ServiceNow by 499,668.1% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,772,785 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,268,731,000 after acquiring an additional 4,771,830 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 89,137.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,185,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,059,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,739 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in ServiceNow by 216.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,367,875 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,206,178,000 after buying an additional 935,848 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 9.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,606,394 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,014,302,000 after buying an additional 502,845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NOW. KeyCorp cut shares of ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,210.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,129.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $2,372,993.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $11,710,600. This represents a 16.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 415 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.46, for a total value of $419,340.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,322 shares in the company, valued at $1,335,828.12. The trade was a 23.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,811 shares of company stock valued at $11,159,073. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE NOW opened at $995.97 on Wednesday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $1,067.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $974.54. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-month high of $1,198.09. The company has a market capitalization of $205.17 billion, a PE ratio of 145.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.99.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. Equities analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding 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 often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.