Gartner (NYSE:IT) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Gartner (NYSE:IT) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $546.63.

Gartner Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of IT stock traded up $11.26 on Friday, hitting $430.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,798,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 392,961. The firm has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $502.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $507.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Gartner has a twelve month low of $410.49 and a twelve month high of $584.01.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $2.23. Gartner had a return on equity of 116.56% and a net margin of 20.00%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gartner will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total value of $47,745.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $1,728,932.09. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total value of $587,724.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,627 shares in the company, valued at $796,855.79. This represents a 42.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Gartner by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $8,103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Gartner during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $366,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Gartner by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gartner by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,626 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,322,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Gartner by 15.5% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 105,769 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $53,599,000 after buying an additional 14,167 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.