Gartner (NYSE:IT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gartner (NYSE:IT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. 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 research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Gartner from $579.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gartner currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $552.63.

Gartner Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:IT opened at $514.02 on Wednesday. Gartner has a 52 week low of $411.15 and a 52 week high of $584.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $510.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $507.95. The company has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a PE ratio of 32.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $2.23. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 136.32% and a net margin of 20.00%. Gartner’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Gartner will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gartner news, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $778,732.56. This trade represents a 21.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total value of $47,745.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $1,728,932.09. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,690 shares of company stock worth $2,981,025 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gartner during the 4th quarter worth approximately $460,541,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Gartner in the fourth quarter worth $244,799,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Gartner in the fourth quarter worth $165,476,000. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in Gartner in the fourth quarter valued at $97,518,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gartner during the 4th quarter worth $95,762,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

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.