Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Gartner (NYSE:IT) Stock Price

Gartner (NYSE:IT) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $564.00 to $555.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 7.49% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Gartner from $565.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $550.75.

Gartner Stock Up 0.8 %

IT stock opened at $516.34 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $507.49 and a 200 day moving average of $498.03. Gartner has a twelve month low of $411.15 and a twelve month high of $559.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market cap of $39.83 billion, a PE ratio of 38.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.33.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The information technology services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 17.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Gartner will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gartner news, Director James C. Smith sold 17,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.09, for a total transaction of $9,592,128.97. Following the sale, the director now owns 532,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,212,724.46. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP William James Wartinbee III sold 189 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.54, for a total transaction of $98,949.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,827,600.94. This represents a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,583 shares of company stock worth $19,241,974 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gartner

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IT. State Street Corp grew its stake in 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 valued at $1,650,697,000 after purchasing an additional 36,258 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,018,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,020,378,000 after purchasing an additional 36,698 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Gartner by 5.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,001,142 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,099,000 after buying an additional 103,814 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Gartner by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,036,530 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $525,272,000 after buying an additional 70,236 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Gartner by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 801,589 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $422,678,000 after buying an additional 25,315 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is 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.