Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto Sells 6,737 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 6,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.09, for a total value of $1,071,789.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,184,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,302,107,900.25. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Morningstar Stock Up 2.8%

MORN stock traded up $4.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $162.75. The stock had a trading volume of 620,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 591,914. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.08 and a 1-year high of $329.16. The company has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $201.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $222.14.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $641.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $634.43 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.

Morningstar Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s payout ratio is 22.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,910,000 after acquiring an additional 523,387 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Morningstar by 106.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after acquiring an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,224,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 266.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 280,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $88,190,000 after purchasing an additional 204,277 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Morningstar by 22,716.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 162,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,512,000 after buying an additional 161,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MORN. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc is a leading provider of independent investment research, data, and analytics, serving both individual investors and financial professionals. The company offers comprehensive coverage of financial products, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, bonds and market indexes. Morningstar’s proprietary rating systems and research methodologies help clients assess the risk and return profiles of investment opportunities and make informed decisions.

Its core products include Morningstar Direct, an institutional investment analysis platform; Morningstar Office Cloud, a portfolio management solution for advisors; and Morningstar Data, which delivers extensive datasets through APIs and data feeds.