Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,012,799 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,657 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 2.61% of Gartner worth $975,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IT. State Street Corp boosted its position in Gartner by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,257,355 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,650,697,000 after acquiring an additional 36,258 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gartner by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,018,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,020,378,000 after purchasing an additional 36,698 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Gartner by 7.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,036,530 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $525,272,000 after purchasing an additional 70,236 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Gartner by 3.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 801,589 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $422,678,000 after buying an additional 25,315 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gartner by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 490,011 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $248,318,000 after buying an additional 3,691 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company's stock.

Gartner Stock Performance

Shares of Gartner stock traded down $12.98 during trading on Thursday, hitting $503.03. 441,947 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 478,047. Gartner, Inc. has a 1 year low of $411.15 and a 1 year high of $584.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $509.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $508.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information technology services provider reported $5.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $2.23. Gartner had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 116.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.04 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gartner news, SVP John J. Rinello sold 90 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,728,932.09. This represents a 2.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 5,000 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.02, for a total transaction of $2,620,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 509,457 shares in the company, valued at $266,965,657.14. This represents a 0.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,690 shares of company stock valued at $2,981,025 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Gartner from $579.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays raised Gartner from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $552.63.

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.