Gartner (NYSE:IT) Shares Down 6.3% – Time to Sell?

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on IT. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Gartner in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Gartner from $579.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $552.63.

Gartner Stock Down 7.0 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $505.08 and a 200-day moving average of $508.72. 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 stock has a market cap of $32.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $2.23. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 116.56% and a net margin of 20.00%. Gartner’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gartner

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 111 Capital acquired a new position in shares of Gartner in the 4th quarter valued at $782,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its position in shares of Gartner by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 854 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Gartner in the 4th quarter valued at $30,425,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gartner by 982.9% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,851 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,257,000 after acquiring an additional 9,849 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Gartner by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 929 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. 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.