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

Gartner (NYSE:IT) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

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

Gartner Stock Performance

NYSE:IT traded up $11.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $430.03. The stock had a trading volume of 1,798,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 392,961. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $502.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $507.66. Gartner has a 12-month low of $410.49 and a 12-month high of $584.01. The stock has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gartner news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of Gartner 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 owns 3,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,728,932.09. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 approximately $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 Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the fourth quarter worth about $460,541,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the fourth quarter worth about $244,799,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the fourth quarter worth about $165,476,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Gartner by 184.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 390,472 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $189,172,000 after buying an additional 253,288 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gartner by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,822,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,367,233,000 after buying an additional 223,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

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.