Gartner (NYSE:IT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Gartner (NYSE:IT) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from $579.00 to $605.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.62% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on IT. Barclays upgraded shares of Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gartner currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $552.63.

Gartner Trading Down 1.8 %

IT traded down $9.98 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $537.18. 47,383 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 457,774. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. Gartner has a 1 year low of $411.15 and a 1 year high of $584.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $508.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $505.61. The firm has a market cap of $41.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.34.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $2.23. Gartner had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. Gartner’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Gartner will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gartner

In other news, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.24, for a total value of $214,229.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $778,732.56. This trade represents a 21.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 2,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.68, for a total transaction of $1,358,966.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 529,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $293,893,869.92. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,583 shares of company stock worth $13,884,374 in the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IT. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in Gartner in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,518,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Gartner during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,762,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Gartner by 208.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 272,267 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $131,905,000 after buying an additional 183,974 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Gartner during the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,955,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,001,142 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,099,000 after buying an additional 103,814 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Gartner Company Profile

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.