Gartner (NYSE:IT) Shares Down 6.3% – What’s Next?

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) shares were down 6.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $420.85 and last traded at $420.93. Approximately 609,409 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 383,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $449.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on IT shares. Barclays raised Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock 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 lowered 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gartner presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $546.63.

Gartner Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $502.37 and a 200-day moving average of $507.66. 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. Gartner’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gartner news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $1,728,932.09. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $796,855.79. This trade represents a 42.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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