Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 89,827 Shares of ServiceNow, Inc. $NOW

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) by 5.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,503,304 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 89,827 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ServiceNow were worth $157,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ServiceNow by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 273 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network increased its position in shares of ServiceNow by 1.7% during the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 892 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 3.5% in the third quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 507 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 3.6% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 514 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Trust lifted its position in ServiceNow by 1.8% in the third quarter. American Trust now owns 1,029 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $947,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 87.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of ServiceNow in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of ServiceNow from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Guggenheim raised shares of ServiceNow from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ServiceNow in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 16,445 shares of ServiceNow stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.14, for a total transaction of $1,482,352.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 30,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,712,312.60. This trade represents a 35.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul Edward Chamberlain sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.23, for a total transaction of $130,845.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 44,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,919,243.90. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,071 shares of company stock valued at $2,529,956. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting ServiceNow

Here are the key news stories impacting ServiceNow this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on ServiceNow to $115 from $100, suggesting analysts still see upside and stable demand trends. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: New partner and government-contract announcements highlighted continued ecosystem momentum, including C1Secure’s ServiceNow-native FedRAMP 20x platform and Empower AI’s GSA enterprise IT award, both reinforcing ServiceNow’s role in AI-enabled workflow and public-sector modernization. Article Title Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary argues ServiceNow’s AI tools, including Now Assist, could become a stronger monetization driver as investors rotate toward application software. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analyst-style articles debated ServiceNow’s valuation and long-term prospects, with some calling it attractive for the rebound and others saying it is not the cheapest name in software. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: IBM’s revenue warning triggered a broader selloff in tech and dragged ServiceNow lower along with other enterprise software names like Accenture. Article Title Article Title

ServiceNow Stock Performance

ServiceNow stock opened at $104.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $103.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.31. ServiceNow, Inc. has a 52-week low of $81.24 and a 52-week high of $210.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.96.

ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The information technology services provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.97. ServiceNow had a net margin of 12.59% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that ServiceNow, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ServiceNow Profile

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.