Prana Capital Management LP Takes Position in Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Prana Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 38,383 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,595,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank grew its position in Gartner by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,103,000 after buying an additional 1,028 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Gartner in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $366,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Gartner by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 1,137 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Gartner by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,626 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,322,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gartner by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 3,379 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,637,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 91.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Gartner from $401.00 to $400.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Gartner from $564.00 to $555.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Gartner from $622.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Gartner from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $518.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Craig Safian sold 3,415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.17, for a total value of $1,537,330.55. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 77,890 shares in the company, valued at $35,063,741.30. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen Serra sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $489.77, for a total transaction of $587,724.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,627 shares in the company, valued at $796,855.79. This trade represents a 42.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,463 shares of company stock valued at $2,495,190. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Gartner Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of IT opened at $445.55 on Thursday. Gartner, Inc. has a one year low of $366.05 and a one year high of $584.01. The company has a market cap of $34.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.94.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The information technology services provider reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. Gartner had a net margin of 20.00% and a return on equity of 116.56%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Gartner, Inc. will post 12.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.