Gartner (NYSE:IT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Gartner (NYSE:IT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on IT. Barclays upgraded shares of Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $546.63.

Gartner Stock Performance

Shares of IT opened at $430.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $33.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $502.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $507.66. Gartner has a 1 year low of $409.50 and a 1 year high of $584.01.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total transaction of $587,724.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $796,855.79. The trade was a 42.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction of $47,745.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,728,932.09. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gartner

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gartner by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,268,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,490,378,000 after purchasing an additional 100,917 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,257,355 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,650,697,000 after buying an additional 36,258 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,822,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,233,000 after buying an additional 223,087 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,063,577 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $998,400,000 after buying an additional 45,219 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,012,799 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $975,141,000 after buying an additional 11,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

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.