Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) Shares Bought by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Gartner were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of IT. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Gartner by 4.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,157,075 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $741,193,000 after acquiring an additional 95,040 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Gartner by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,565,046 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $537,766,000 after purchasing an additional 364,128 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 740,957 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $254,600,000 after purchasing an additional 46,425 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 629,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $284,185,000 after buying an additional 131,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Gartner by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 463,706 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $159,334,000 after buying an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Trading Up 2.3 %

IT opened at $428.64 on Friday. Gartner, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $295.43 and a fifty-two week high of $486.54. The company has a market cap of $33.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $462.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $440.89.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 141.55% and a net margin of 13.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IT. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Gartner from $550.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Gartner from $421.00 to $446.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Gartner in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $507.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Gartner from $450.00 to $432.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $474.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Valentin Sribar sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.00, for a total value of $308,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,557,857. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Akhil Jain sold 250 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.55, for a total value of $116,137.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,433,777.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Valentin Sribar sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.00, for a total transaction of $308,946.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,557,857. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,952 shares of company stock worth $10,598,070 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.60% 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.