Robert W. Baird Has Lowered Expectations for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $1,200.00 to $1,010.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target indicates a potential upside of 17.37% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $1,048.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com lowered ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group dropped their price target on ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,000.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, 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. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,093.76.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NOW opened at $860.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. ServiceNow has a 52 week low of $637.99 and a 52 week high of $1,198.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $964.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $985.75. 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 the consensus estimate of $3.67. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. Equities analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 29th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total value of $1,287,123.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,564.50. This represents a 32.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 292 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total transaction of $297,124.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, 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 quarter, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ServiceNow

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOW. World Investment Advisors LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,603,360,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 154,255.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 666,815 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 666,383 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the 4th quarter worth approximately $682,468,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in ServiceNow by 24.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.