Insider Selling: Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) Director Sells 17,533 Shares of Stock

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) Director James C. Smith sold 17,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.09, for a total transaction of $9,592,128.97. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 532,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,212,724.46. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Gartner Stock Down 2.7 %

IT stock opened at $537.10 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $517.54 and a 200 day moving average of $476.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.39 billion, a PE ratio of 39.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. Gartner, Inc. has a 52 week low of $411.15 and a 52 week high of $559.00.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The information technology services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Gartner had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 118.27%. Gartner’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Gartner by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,974,760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,277,999,000 after acquiring an additional 60,786 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 103,814 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 609,945 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $290,742,000 after purchasing an additional 7,852 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Gartner in the 2nd quarter valued at $266,541,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 585,026 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $262,706,000 after purchasing an additional 56,908 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on IT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Gartner from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Gartner from $525.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Gartner from $490.00 to $528.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $539.25.

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.