Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Stake in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,777,661 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 105,705 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 3.60% of Gartner worth $1,345,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Gartner in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Gartner during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Gartner by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 276 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management acquired a new stake in Gartner in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $145,000. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upgraded Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $536.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $1,728,932.09. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total value of $587,724.00. Following the completion of 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. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gartner Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:IT opened at $413.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $490.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $504.32. Gartner, Inc. has a 1-year low of $409.00 and a 1-year high of $584.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $2.23. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 116.56% and a net margin of 20.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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.