Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,133,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 1st quarter worth $2,053,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 211.0% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 46,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,935,000 after purchasing an additional 31,847 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,531 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at $3,400,000. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Morningstar during the fourth quarter worth about $686,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $165.94 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.97. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.49 and a twelve month high of $312.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90 and a beta of 1.01.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $644.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.91 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 700 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.00, for a total transaction of $125,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,488,816. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Holt sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.05, for a total transaction of $44,833.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 12,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,046,732.30. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.00.

About Morningstar

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.