BMO Capital Markets Cuts Gartner (NYSE:IT) Price Target to $432.00

Gartner (NYSE:IT) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $450.00 to $432.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 0.78% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on IT. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Gartner from $421.00 to $446.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Gartner from $550.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Gartner from $536.00 to $517.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Gartner in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $507.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gartner has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $474.50.

Gartner Stock Up 2.3 %

IT traded up $9.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $428.64. 478,615 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 463,111. Gartner has a 1 year low of $295.43 and a 1 year high of $486.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $462.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $440.27.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.40. Gartner had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 141.55%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gartner will post 11.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Akhil Jain sold 250 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.55, for a total value of $116,137.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,239 shares in the company, valued at $2,433,777.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Akhil Jain sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.55, for a total transaction of $116,137.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,433,777.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value of $2,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 638,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,396,925. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,952 shares of company stock valued at $10,598,070. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Gartner by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 5,371 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gartner by 115.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,925,000 after buying an additional 3,002 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Gartner by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 122,804 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $42,197,000 after buying an additional 7,377 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Gartner during the 3rd quarter worth $373,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Gartner by 3.9% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $546,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.