Gartner (NYSE:IT) Reaches New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) shares hit a new 52-week low on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $400.00 to $345.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Gartner traded as low as $352.29 and last traded at $353.18, with a volume of 148701 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $355.40.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. 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 research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $500.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $622.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gartner currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $507.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP William James Wartinbee III sold 538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.09, for a total value of $241,610.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,577,001.85. This represents a 6.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.35, for a total value of $47,562.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,431,228. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,426 shares of company stock valued at $2,430,327. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IT. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Gartner in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Gartner by 453.3% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 83 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gartner by 210.8% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gartner Stock Down 0.7%

The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $412.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $447.12.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The information technology services provider reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.26. Gartner had a return on equity of 96.70% and a net margin of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

About Gartner

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.