Madison Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 505,292 Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 505,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $244,799,000. Gartner makes up 2.8% of Madison Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Gartner during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Gartner in the third quarter worth $44,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gartner by 2,350.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 98 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Gartner in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gartner during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Price Performance

IT opened at $459.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G 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 1 year low of $411.15 and a 1 year high of $584.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $509.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $510.21.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $2.23. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 116.56%. Gartner’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Gartner from $579.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $552.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction of $47,745.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $796,855.79. The trade was a 42.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.