KBC Group NV Raises Position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,109 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,923 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Gartner were worth $7,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Gartner by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gartner by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of Gartner by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 20,773 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,084,000 after buying an additional 1,327 shares during the last quarter. Crown Oak Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Crown Oak Advisors LLC now owns 21,648 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,488,000 after buying an additional 1,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Gartner during the fourth quarter worth about $309,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gartner from $565.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $550.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.24, for a total transaction of $214,229.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,732.56. The trade was a 21.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 2,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.68, for a total transaction of $1,358,966.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 529,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $293,893,869.92. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,583 shares of company stock valued at $19,241,974. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Price Performance

Shares of IT opened at $548.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $507.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $503.18. The stock has a market cap of $42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 40.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.33. Gartner, Inc. has a 1-year low of $411.15 and a 1-year high of $559.00. 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 (NYSE:IT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The information technology services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.45 by $0.05. Gartner had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.87 EPS for the current year.

Gartner 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.