Richard J. Bressler Sells 6,413 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) Stock

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) Director Richard J. Bressler sold 6,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $418.97, for a total transaction of $2,686,854.61. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,973,592.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Gartner Stock Performance

NYSE:IT opened at $424.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.12 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.24. Gartner, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $292.60 and a fifty-two week high of $425.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $360.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $348.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.32.

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

Gartner announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, November 3rd that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gartner

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gartner by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,198,161 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,736,085,000 after purchasing an additional 102,709 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gartner by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,394,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,083,019,000 after purchasing an additional 165,046 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gartner by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,593,426 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,170,630,000 after purchasing an additional 113,978 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Gartner by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,132,949 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,097,503,000 after purchasing an additional 60,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Gartner by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,157,075 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $741,193,000 after purchasing an additional 95,040 shares during the last quarter. 90.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on IT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Gartner from $366.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Gartner from $352.00 to $346.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $363.20.

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.