The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 224 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its position in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,311 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 224 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.06% of Gartner worth $22,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Gartner in the 4th quarter worth $460,541,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Gartner in the fourth quarter valued at $244,799,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gartner during the fourth quarter valued at about $165,476,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Gartner by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,822,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,367,233,000 after acquiring an additional 223,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Gartner in the 4th quarter worth about $97,518,000. Institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Gartner from $401.00 to $400.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $513.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gartner news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total value of $587,724.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $796,855.79. The trade was a 42.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Price Performance

IT opened at $427.76 on Friday. Gartner, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $366.05 and a fifty-two week high of $584.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $429.83 and a 200 day moving average of $485.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $32.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Gartner 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.