First Trust Advisors LP Sells 2,694 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 139,124 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,694 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $147,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NOW. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,802,000. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in ServiceNow by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,154 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. bought a new position in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at $105,090,000. Rheos Capital Works Inc. purchased a new stake in ServiceNow in the fourth quarter worth $10,071,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 44,793 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $47,486,000 after buying an additional 2,829 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total value of $1,287,123.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,564.50. The trade was a 32.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 11,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. The trade was a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,250 shares of company stock valued at $19,853,273 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NOW. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,275.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,010.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,050.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,057.17.

ServiceNow Price Performance

Shares of ServiceNow stock opened at $772.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.84 billion, a PE ratio of 113.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 12 month low of $637.99 and a 12 month high of $1,198.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $852.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $970.14.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 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 17.11%. Sell-side analysts forecast that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 buy up to 1.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.