Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 12,654 Shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) by 3,448.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,021 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,654 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Gartner were worth $6,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Gartner by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,268,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,490,378,000 after buying an additional 100,917 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Gartner by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,822,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,233,000 after purchasing an additional 223,087 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Gartner by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,063,577 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $998,400,000 after purchasing an additional 45,219 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Gartner by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,012,799 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $975,141,000 after purchasing an additional 11,657 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Gartner by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,662,005 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $805,192,000 after purchasing an additional 187,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IT. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $605.00 to $557.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $622.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Gartner from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gartner from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $518.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Craig Safian sold 3,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,063,741.30. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP John J. Rinello sold 109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.35, for a total transaction of $47,562.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,431,228. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,001 shares of company stock valued at $2,736,801. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gartner Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IT opened at $446.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Gartner, Inc. has a 12 month low of $366.05 and a 12 month high of $584.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.47. The stock has a market cap of $34.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.24.

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

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.