KBC Group NV Boosts Stake in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,109 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,923 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Gartner were worth $7,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IT. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Gartner by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Gartner by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of Gartner by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 20,773 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327 shares in the last quarter. Crown Oak Advisors LLC lifted its position in Gartner by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Crown Oak Advisors LLC now owns 21,648 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Gartner in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $309,000. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the company’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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 17,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $547.09, for a total value of $9,592,128.97. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 532,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,212,724.46. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,583 shares of company stock worth $19,241,974. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IT. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Gartner from $565.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $460.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Gartner from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $525.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $550.75.

Gartner Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE:IT opened at $548.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $507.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $503.18. Gartner, Inc. has a 1-year low of $411.15 and a 1-year high of $559.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.46, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.33.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The information technology services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.05. Gartner had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 17.33%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gartner, Inc. will post 11.87 EPS for the current year.

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.