Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Gartner (NYSE:IT) Price Target to $460.00

Gartner (NYSE:IT - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $470.00 to $460.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "underweight" rating on the information technology services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would indicate a potential downside of 5.91% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Gartner from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised shares of Gartner from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Gartner from $565.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Gartner from $560.00 to $564.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $551.88.

Gartner Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IT traded down $6.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $488.91. 478,493 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 417,329. Gartner has a 1-year low of $411.15 and a 1-year high of $559.00. The company has a market capitalization of $37.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. The business's 50 day moving average is $510.05 and its 200-day moving average is $495.69.

Gartner (NYSE:IT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The information technology services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.48 billion. Gartner had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Gartner will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP William James Wartinbee III sold 189 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.54, for a total value of $98,949.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,827,600.94. This trade represents a 2.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.24, for a total value of $214,229.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $778,732.56. This represents a 21.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 35,583 shares of company stock valued at $19,241,974. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gartner in the second quarter worth approximately $650,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in Gartner in the 2nd quarter worth $214,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Gartner in the second quarter worth $143,000. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Gartner during the second quarter valued at about $722,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gartner by 13.0% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 8,745 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,927,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by 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.