Sapient Capital LLC Buys Shares of 10,340 Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,340 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,664,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gartner by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,198,161 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,736,085,000 after buying an additional 102,709 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Gartner by 2.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,394,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,083,019,000 after purchasing an additional 165,046 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Gartner by 2.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,072,139 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,000,811,000 after purchasing an additional 69,116 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Gartner by 4.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,157,075 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $741,193,000 after purchasing an additional 95,040 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Gartner by 20.3% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,029,738 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $603,766,000 after purchasing an additional 342,228 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on IT. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Gartner from $421.00 to $446.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Gartner from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 10th. UBS Group upgraded Gartner from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $484.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Gartner from $444.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Gartner from $380.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $470.25.

Gartner Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Gartner stock traded up $10.89 during trading on Thursday, hitting $474.67. 306,096 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 385,494. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.29. Gartner, Inc. has a 1-year low of $292.60 and a 1-year high of $486.54. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $465.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $429.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Gartner (NYSE:IT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The information technology services provider reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.21. Gartner had a return on equity of 156.35% and a net margin of 14.94%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.70 EPS. Gartner's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Gartner

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

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.