Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 958 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,096 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 958 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Gartner were worth $5,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IT. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Gartner by 271.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,151,011 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $723,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gartner in the 4th quarter worth about $263,599,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Gartner by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,565,046 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $537,766,000 after acquiring an additional 364,128 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Gartner by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,029,738 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $603,766,000 after acquiring an additional 342,228 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Gartner by 888.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 300,106 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,119,000 after acquiring an additional 269,744 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Gartner from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $484.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Gartner from $444.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Gartner from $421.00 to $446.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Gartner in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $507.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $477.60.

Insider Transactions at Gartner

In related news, Director James C. Smith sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $2,275,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 638,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,396,925. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Akhil Jain sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.55, for a total value of $116,137.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,433,777.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $2,275,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 638,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $290,396,925. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,952 shares of company stock worth $10,598,070 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IT opened at $449.41 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $465.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $433.71. Gartner, Inc. has a twelve month low of $292.60 and a twelve month high of $486.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.04 billion, a PE ratio of 40.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 1.29.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology services provider reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.21. Gartner had a net margin of 14.94% and a return on equity of 156.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.36 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.