Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 13.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,676 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Gartner were worth $1,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,974,760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,277,999,000 after buying an additional 60,786 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Gartner by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,852,820 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $835,826,000 after buying an additional 198,274 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,555,417 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $741,420,000 after buying an additional 10,718 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,208,914 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $545,353,000 after buying an additional 52,826 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 920,716 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $415,344,000 after buying an additional 143,556 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Gartner

In related news, Director James C. Smith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.20, for a total value of $4,552,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 608,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,929,568.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director James C. Smith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.20, for a total value of $4,552,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 608,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,929,568.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Yvonne Genovese sold 439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.13, for a total transaction of $200,241.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $893,558.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,544 shares of company stock valued at $10,079,813 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Gartner Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:IT traded up $2.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $501.19. The stock had a trading volume of 707,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,772. Gartner, Inc. has a one year low of $323.61 and a one year high of $509.15. The company has a market capitalization of $38.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.87, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $447.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.38.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The information technology services provider reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Gartner had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 141.55%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Gartner from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Gartner from $517.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Gartner from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Gartner in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $507.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Gartner from $525.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $521.00.

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.