ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) Short Interest Up 22.4% in March

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,100,000 shares, a growth of 22.4% from the February 28th total of 3,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NOW. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $1,250.00 to $1,000.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut ServiceNow from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on ServiceNow from $1,050.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $1,048.00 price objective on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ServiceNow currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,087.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William R. Mcdermott sold 1,263 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,019.10, for a total transaction of $1,287,123.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,564.50. This represents a 32.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacqueline P. Canney sold 292 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,017.55, for a total transaction of $297,124.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,080,123.85. This trade represents a 8.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,351 shares of company stock worth $20,050,076 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,199,258 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,353,517,000 after purchasing an additional 190,430 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in ServiceNow by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,077,547 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,118,867,000 after acquiring an additional 226,023 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,955,924 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,434,235,000 after acquiring an additional 509,467 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of ServiceNow by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,878,900 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,232,339,000 after acquiring an additional 272,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 499,668.1% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,772,785 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,268,731,000 after purchasing an additional 4,771,830 shares during the last quarter. 87.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ServiceNow Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NOW traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $810.47. 197,221 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,413,251. The firm has a market cap of $166.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.39, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.03. 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 has a 12-month low of $637.99 and a 12-month high of $1,198.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $939.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $983.75.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The information technology services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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.