Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Gartner Inc (IT)

Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. IT investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with IT holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many indicators investors can use to watch publicly traded companies. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can beat the broader indices by a significant margin (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the key action encompassing Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT).

How are hedge funds trading Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -45% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT), worth close to $107.8 million, comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $58.5 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Mike Vranos’s Ellington and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Due to the fact that Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers who were dropping their entire stakes in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dumped the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, totaling an estimated $2.2 million in stock.. Matthew Tewksbury’s fund, Stevens Capital Management, also cut its stock, about $1.2 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 5 funds in Q1.

How are insiders trading Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 10 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over 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 belong to the information technology services industry and their market caps match IT’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds