Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 57,805 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 363% compared to the typical volume of 12,487 put options.

ServiceNow Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NOW traded down $3.26 on Thursday, reaching $153.22. 9,628,006 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,271,816. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.97. ServiceNow has a fifty-two week low of $135.73 and a fifty-two week high of $239.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $865.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $920.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information technology services provider reported $4.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $3.98. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. ServiceNow had a net margin of 13.66% and a return on equity of 18.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 8.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 1,500 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.60, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 47,930 shares in the company, valued at $7,745,488. This trade represents a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gina Mastantuono sold 2,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $352,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 61,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,393,800. This trade represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 15,310 shares of company stock valued at $2,533,585 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ServiceNow

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 1st quarter worth about $382,000. Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its position in ServiceNow by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 22.2% in the second quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 533 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 1.6% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 25,496 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,067,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 32.0% during the second quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,465 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,506,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NOW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Macquarie initiated coverage on ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $172.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on ServiceNow from $246.80 to $250.60 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research upgraded ServiceNow to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $210.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.09.

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.