Is Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) a splendid stock to buy now? Hedge funds are getting less optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets were trimmed by 4 lately.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of methods investors can use to watch stocks. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a peek at the latest action encompassing Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT).
Hedge fund activity in Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT)
At year’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -29% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.
Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT). Royce & Associates has a $158 million position in the stock, comprising 0.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $44 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
Because Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few fund managers who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. Intriguingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies we key on, valued at close to $2 million in stock.. Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s fund, Polar Capital, also dumped its stock, about $1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds last quarter.
How have insiders been trading Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT). These stocks are Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX), NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR), ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW), Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC), and Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX). This group of stocks are the members of the information technology services industry and their market caps are similar to IT’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX) | 34 | 0 | 3 |
| NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) | 27 | 0 | 5 |
| ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW) | 16 | 0 | 11 |
| Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) | 24 | 0 | 1 |
| Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX) | 13 | 0 | 14 |
With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s tactics, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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