Gartner (NYSE:IT) Upgraded by UBS Group to Buy

UBS Group upgraded shares of Gartner (NYSE:IT) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $550.00 price objective on the information technology services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $484.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Gartner from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Gartner from $444.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Gartner from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Gartner from $421.00 to $446.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $470.25.

Gartner Stock Performance

Shares of IT opened at $465.45 on Thursday. Gartner has a 12 month low of $292.60 and a 12 month high of $486.54. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $465.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.08, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology services provider reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.21. Gartner had a net margin of 14.94% and a return on equity of 156.35%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Gartner will post 11.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James C. Smith sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $2,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 638,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $290,396,925. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Akhil Jain sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.55, for a total transaction of $116,137.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,433,777.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $2,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 638,235 shares in the company, valued at $290,396,925. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,952 shares of company stock valued at $10,598,070 over the last ninety days. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gartner

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Gartner by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,198,161 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,736,085,000 after buying an additional 102,709 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Gartner by 2.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,394,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,083,019,000 after buying an additional 165,046 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Gartner by 2.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,072,139 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,000,811,000 after buying an additional 69,116 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Gartner by 4.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,157,075 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $741,193,000 after buying an additional 95,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Gartner by 20.3% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,029,738 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $603,766,000 after buying an additional 342,228 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is 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.