D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 43,584 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 72.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,254 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 43,584 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Gartner were worth $7,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in IT. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gartner by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 452 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gartner by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of Gartner by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 826 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Gartner by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,210 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gartner by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 737 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gartner Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IT opened at $446.40 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $421.17 and its 200 day moving average is $480.47. Gartner, Inc. has a 52 week low of $366.05 and a 52 week high of $584.01. The stock has a market cap of $34.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.85, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The information technology services provider reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Gartner had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 116.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Craig Safian sold 3,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.17, for a total value of $1,537,330.55. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 77,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,063,741.30. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.35, for a total transaction of $47,562.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,431,228. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,001 shares of company stock valued at $2,736,801 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IT. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Gartner from $401.00 to $400.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Gartner from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Gartner from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $518.67.

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.