Gartner (NYSE:IT) Shares Down 6.3% – What’s Next?

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)’s share price traded down 6.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $420.85 and last traded at $420.93. Approximately 609,409 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 383,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $449.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $546.63.

Gartner Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $502.37 and a 200 day moving average of $507.66.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its earnings results 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. Gartner had a return on equity of 116.56% and a net margin of 20.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gartner

In other news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction of $47,745.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. The trade was a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total value of $587,724.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $796,855.79. This trade represents a 42.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 6.5% in 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 shares of Gartner in the fourth quarter worth approximately $366,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 1.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 15.5% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 105,769 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $53,599,000 after acquiring an additional 14,167 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.