Prudential PLC Purchases 1,995 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Gartner were worth $5,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gartner by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,268,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,490,378,000 after acquiring an additional 100,917 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $998,400,000 after purchasing an additional 45,219 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,012,799 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $975,141,000 after purchasing an additional 11,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Gartner by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,662,005 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $805,192,000 after buying an additional 187,854 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gartner Trading Down 5.4 %

Shares of NYSE:IT opened at $383.12 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $482.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $502.15. The company has a market capitalization of $29.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.90, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $382.23 and a 52-week high of $584.01.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $2.23. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 42.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on IT shares. StockNews.com lowered Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Gartner from $600.00 to $510.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gartner has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $525.38.

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.