Guggenheim Reaffirms Sell Rating for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Guggenheim in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $716.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target suggests a potential downside of 12.28% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on NOW. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on ServiceNow in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $1,300.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,432.00 to $1,426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial cut their target price on ServiceNow from $1,100.00 to $950.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on ServiceNow from $1,175.00 to $950.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ServiceNow presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,059.80.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOW traded down $0.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $816.26. 281,492 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,465,677. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $866.88 and its 200-day moving average is $972.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.57, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08. ServiceNow has a one year low of $637.99 and a one year high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that ServiceNow will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. This represents a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Nicholas Tzitzon sold 2,945 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $923.72, for a total transaction of $2,720,355.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,649 shares in the company, valued at $3,370,654.28. This represents a 44.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 725.0% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 33 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.