Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT - Free Report) by 21.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 595,912 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 161,722 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.77% of Gartner worth $288,701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Gartner by 5.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 103,814 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Gartner by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,630 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $5,388,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gartner during the 3rd quarter worth $218,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gartner in the 3rd quarter valued at about $528,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 9.5% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 41,256 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $20,907,000 after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on IT. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Gartner from $565.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Gartner in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lowered their target price on Gartner from $600.00 to $510.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Gartner from $488.00 to $401.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Gartner from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $518.00.

Gartner Price Performance

Shares of IT traded up $8.84 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $408.72. 109,465 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 448,706. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $461.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $496.20. Gartner, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $366.05 and a fifty-two week high of $584.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.40 billion, a PE ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Gartner (NYSE:IT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $2.23. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Gartner had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 116.56%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous 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 fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gartner

In other news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.51, for a total transaction of $47,745.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,728,932.09. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total transaction of $587,724.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,627 shares in the company, valued at $796,855.79. This represents a 42.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.