Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Purchases Shares of 190 ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 190 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geneva Partners LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 37.6% in the 4th quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 7,577 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,070 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $409,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in ServiceNow by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,382,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 265 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC grew its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 9,038 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,642,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on NOW shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ServiceNow from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $900.00 to $960.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $860.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $950.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $716.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $1,300.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,129.72.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 76 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.94, for a total value of $76,831.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,060,115.38. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 2,511 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,012.09, for a total transaction of $2,541,357.99. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 4,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,384,373.88. This trade represents a 36.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,778 shares of company stock worth $21,042,138 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NOW opened at $1,026.25 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,081.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $961.64. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 1 year low of $637.99 and a 1 year high of $1,198.09. The company has a market capitalization of $211.41 billion, a PE ratio of 150.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. On average, research analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

ServiceNow 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.