Joseph Mansueto Sells 7,250 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.84, for a total transaction of $1,463,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 7,999,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,614,653,392.80. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $206.89 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.49 and a twelve month high of $266.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $175.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.17. The company has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MORN. Weiss Ratings cut Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $227.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 23.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 278.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 2,450.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,615,000 after purchasing an additional 51,449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Morningstar

Here are the key news stories impacting Morningstar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent institutional activity was supportive: several funds, including IEQ Capital, Quantbot Technologies and Callan Family Office, initiated or added positions during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own about 57% of Morningstar’s shares, indicating substantial professional-investor participation.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s latest quarterly results showed strong execution. Morningstar reported earnings of $3.10 per share versus the $2.83 consensus estimate, while revenue of $663.2 million exceeded expectations of $649.7 million. The earnings beat remains an important fundamental catalyst for MORN.
• Neutral Sentiment: Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 15,474 shares for approximately $3.07 million across August 10–12. The transactions were made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reduced his holdings by only about 0.19%, leaving him with roughly 7.99 million shares. The sales therefore appear unlikely to signal a major change in his outlook. SEC insider trading filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Several headlines refer to Morningstar’s research coverage of other companies, including stocks that lost value, August buy-and-sell ideas, and a bullish long-term revenue outlook for CoreWeave (CRWV). These are editorial or analyst views and do not represent changes to Morningstar, Inc.’s own financial outlook. CoreWeave revenue outlook article
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed. While BMO Capital Markets maintained an outperform rating and UBS retained a buy rating, Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to sell, and the consensus rating remains Hold. This could limit upside if investors focus on valuation after the recent advance.

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.