Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Invests $99.66 Million in ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 996,908 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $99,661,000. ServiceNow makes up approximately 1.3% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ServiceNow in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,536,615,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 406.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 47,896,597 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,337,280,000 after purchasing an additional 38,441,898 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 371.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,395,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,962,692,000 after purchasing an additional 25,517,218 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 404.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,512,428 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,591,425,000 after purchasing an additional 18,854,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in ServiceNow by 335.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,733,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,482,543,000 after purchasing an additional 17,514,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ServiceNow news, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $188,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 46,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,864,264. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ServiceNow Trading Down 0.3%

NOW stock opened at $128.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $132.45 billion, a PE ratio of 80.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. ServiceNow, Inc. has a one year low of $81.24 and a one year high of $194.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $109.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.79.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.04. ServiceNow had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 16.45%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $134.00 price target (up from $132.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.24.

About ServiceNow

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is a cloud computing company that builds enterprise software to manage digital workflows and automate business processes. Its offerings are designed to replace manual work and legacy systems with cloud-based, service-oriented applications that support IT operations, customer service, human resources, security response and other enterprise functions.

The company’s flagship product family is the Now Platform, a suite of subscription software and platform services that includes IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Business Management (ITBM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery, Security Operations and Asset Management.