Gartner (NYSE:IT) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Gartner (NYSE:IT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on IT. Barclays raised Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Gartner from $579.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $552.63.

Gartner Price Performance

IT stock opened at $517.03 on Wednesday. Gartner has a 52-week low of $411.15 and a 52-week high of $584.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $510.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $507.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.34.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 136.32% and a net margin of 20.00%. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Gartner will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gartner

In other news, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,494 shares in the company, valued at $778,732.56. This trade represents a 21.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $47,745.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,728,932.09. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,690 shares of company stock valued at $2,981,025 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IT. CX Institutional grew its stake in Gartner by 2.0% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,197 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in Gartner by 13.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,735 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Gartner in the third quarter worth about $223,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Gartner by 1.4% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,311 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in Gartner by 46.5% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 148 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.