Gartner (NYSE:IT) Sets New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Friday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock traded as low as $409.50 and last traded at $416.01, with a volume of 186143 shares. The stock had previously closed at $418.77.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on IT. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised shares of Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gartner presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $546.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the company’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 value of $587,724.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $796,855.79. This represents 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gartner

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,268,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,490,378,000 after buying an additional 100,917 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gartner by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,822,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,367,233,000 after purchasing an additional 223,087 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gartner by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,063,577 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $998,400,000 after purchasing an additional 45,219 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Gartner by 0.6% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 11,657 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Stock Up 2.7 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $502.37 and a 200 day moving average of $507.66. The company has a market capitalization of $33.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. Gartner’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

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.