Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 22.53% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $1,332.00 target price for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,070.00 to $1,210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on ServiceNow from $900.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp lowered ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $716.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,129.93.

ServiceNow Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NOW opened at $1,020.17 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,084.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $952.71. ServiceNow has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.37, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.99.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.56%. Equities analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.98 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 29th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 66 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,048.29, for a total value of $69,187.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,173,173.83. The trade was a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 300 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,047.95, for a total transaction of $314,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,968,892.65. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,731 shares of company stock valued at $21,016,751. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NOW. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ServiceNow in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,421,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 8,337.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 30,544 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $24,028,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 8.1% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in ServiceNow in the 2nd quarter worth $2,122,000. Finally, Emprise Bank purchased a new stake in shares of ServiceNow during the third quarter worth about $201,000. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

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.