JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) Stock Price

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $1,200.00 to $970.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.40% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on NOW. Raymond James decreased their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on ServiceNow from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on ServiceNow from $960.00 to $881.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $967.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $1,200.00 to $1,010.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,032.90.

ServiceNow Trading Up 1.5 %

ServiceNow stock traded up $11.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $767.39. The stock had a trading volume of 380,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,476,808. ServiceNow has a 52 week low of $637.99 and a 52 week high of $1,198.09. The stock has a market cap of $158.85 billion, a PE ratio of 112.34, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $848.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $969.57.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 17.11%. Analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 4,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $964.70, for a total value of $4,285,197.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 11,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,733,252.20. This trade represents a 28.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey A. Miller sold 2,282 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,030.64, for a total transaction of $2,351,920.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,883,148.32. This trade represents a 5.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,250 shares of company stock worth $19,853,273. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOW. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 87,501.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,689,361 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,141,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686,291 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,603,360,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 154,255.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 666,815 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 666,383 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ServiceNow during the 4th quarter valued at $682,468,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in ServiceNow by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,955,924 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,434,235,000 after purchasing an additional 509,467 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

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.