Gartner (NYSE:IT) Upgraded by Barclays to Overweight Rating

Gartner (NYSE:IT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $600.00 price target on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $525.00. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.72% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on IT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Gartner from $560.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Gartner from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Gartner from $565.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $551.88.

Gartner Price Performance

IT stock opened at $488.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Gartner has a one year low of $411.15 and a one year high of $559.00. The stock has a market cap of $37.71 billion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $496.27.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly 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. Gartner had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Gartner will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Gartner

In other Gartner news, Director James C. Smith sold 2,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.68, for a total value of $1,358,966.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 529,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $293,893,869.92. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP William James Wartinbee III sold 189 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.54, for a total transaction of $98,949.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,827,600.94. This trade represents a 2.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,583 shares of company stock worth $19,241,974 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gartner in the 2nd quarter worth about $650,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gartner in the 2nd quarter worth about $214,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gartner in the 2nd quarter worth about $143,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gartner in the 2nd quarter worth about $722,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gartner by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 8,745 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,927,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.