Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Short Interest Update

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,401,034 shares, a growth of 89.5% from the January 29th total of 739,347 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 939,379 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 5.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Approximately 5.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 939,379 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $1,173,241.52. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,184,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,314,629,973.56. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 82,121 shares of company stock worth $13,649,951 in the last 90 days. 36.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Morningstar by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,910,000 after acquiring an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,119,000 after acquiring an additional 314,275 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,224,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 1,196.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,713,000 after purchasing an additional 240,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Morningstar by 266.5% in the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MORN shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

Morningstar Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $183.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Morningstar has a 52-week low of $149.08 and a 52-week high of $318.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $217.91. The firm has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Morningstar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.45%.

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.