Magnetar Financial LLC Takes $1.05 Million Position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,201 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,049,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Gartner during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gartner during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 59.5% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 67 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gartner during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 7,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 76 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gartner news, Director James C. Smith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.20, for a total value of $4,552,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 608,369 shares in the company, valued at $276,929,568.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Anne Sutherland Fuchs sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $428.99, for a total transaction of $302,437.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,656,710.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.20, for a total value of $4,552,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 608,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,929,568.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,544 shares of company stock valued at $10,079,813 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on IT. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Gartner from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com lowered Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Gartner from $536.00 to $517.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Gartner from $550.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Gartner from $450.00 to $432.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $478.50.

Gartner Stock Performance

IT stock traded up $8.93 on Friday, reaching $470.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 424,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,951. Gartner, Inc. has a 52 week low of $323.61 and a 52 week high of $486.54. The company has a market capitalization of $36.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $445.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $453.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.40. Gartner had a return on equity of 141.55% and a net margin of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc operates as a research and advisory company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Research, Conferences, and Consulting. The Research segment delivers its research primarily through a subscription service that include on-demand access to published research content, data and benchmarks, and direct access to a network of research experts.