Eugene A. Hall Sells 35,546 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) Stock

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) CEO Eugene A. Hall sold 35,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.13, for a total transaction of $14,045,290.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,719 shares in the company, valued at $452,707,948.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Gartner Stock Up 0.1 %

IT stock opened at $401.35 on Friday. Gartner, Inc. has a twelve month low of $292.60 and a twelve month high of $403.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32. The company has a market capitalization of $31.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $353.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $343.21.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 3rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.60. Gartner had a return on equity of 206.71% and a net margin of 15.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gartner announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gartner

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,198,161 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,736,085,000 after purchasing an additional 102,709 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 2.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,394,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,019,000 after purchasing an additional 165,046 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 3.3% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,593,426 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,170,630,000 after purchasing an additional 113,978 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 2.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,132,949 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,097,503,000 after purchasing an additional 60,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 271.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,151,011 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $723,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571,413 shares in the last quarter. 90.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Gartner from $352.00 to $346.00 in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Gartner from $366.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $363.20.

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.