Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Raises Stock Holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,956 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $39,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD boosted its holdings in ServiceNow by 57.0% in the third quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD now owns 2,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in ServiceNow during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,802,000. Dock Street Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in ServiceNow by 3.4% during 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 buying an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its stake in ServiceNow by 39.4% during the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 488 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in ServiceNow by 36.4% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,565,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

NOW opened at $937.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $193.18 billion, a PE ratio of 137.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.99. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,054.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $978.38. ServiceNow, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $637.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,198.09.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 12.97%. As a group, equities analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 purchase up to 1.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 384 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $986.64, for a total transaction of $378,869.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,525,636.96. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Russell S. Elmer sold 2,511 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,012.09, for a total value of $2,541,357.99. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 4,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,384,373.88. This represents a 36.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,806 shares of company stock worth $16,065,122 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOW has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on 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. Piper Sandler increased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,000.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank started coverage on ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $1,230.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $716.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,129.72.

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.