Gartner (NYSE:IT) Given New $557.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Gartner (NYSE:IT) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $605.00 to $557.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 33.33% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on IT. Barclays upgraded Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on 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 price target on Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $546.63.

Gartner Price Performance

Shares of Gartner stock opened at $417.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Gartner has a 12 month low of $411.15 and a 12 month high of $584.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $503.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $508.09.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Gartner

In other Gartner news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction of $47,745.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $1,728,932.09. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gartner

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Gartner by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Gartner during the 4th quarter worth $366,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Gartner by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Gartner by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,626 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,322,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Gartner by 15.5% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 105,769 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $53,599,000 after buying an additional 14,167 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.