Gartner (NYSE:IT) Sees Strong Trading Volume - Here's What Happened

Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT - Get Free Report) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday . 1,099,820 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 192% from the previous session's volume of 376,963 shares.The stock last traded at $447.90 and had previously closed at $461.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on IT. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered Gartner from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised Gartner from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Gartner in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gartner has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $546.63.

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Gartner Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $502.37 and a 200 day moving average of $507.66. The company has a market cap of $33.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Gartner (NYSE:IT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $2.23. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 116.56% and a net margin of 20.00%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total value of $47,745.90. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. This trade represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of Gartner 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 sale, the director now owns 1,627 shares of the company's stock, valued at $796,855.79. The trade was a 42.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IT. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Gartner by 5.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,001,142 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,014,099,000 after purchasing an additional 103,814 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Gartner by 15.5% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 105,769 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $53,599,000 after purchasing an additional 14,167 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in Gartner by 20.2% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 947 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Gartner in the third quarter worth about $422,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Gartner during the 3rd quarter valued at about $646,000. 91.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.