Gartner (NYSE:IT) Sets New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as low as $409.50 and last traded at $416.01, with a volume of 186143 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $418.77.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on IT. 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 note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays raised Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on 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 restated a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gartner has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $546.63.

Insider Transactions at Gartner

In other Gartner news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction of $47,745.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total transaction of $587,724.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,627 shares in the company, valued at $796,855.79. This represents a 42.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $998,400,000 after acquiring an additional 45,219 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $975,141,000 after acquiring an additional 11,657 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gartner Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $507.66. The stock has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 116.56% and a net margin of 20.00%. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.