Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) CFO Purchases $186,590.00 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) CFO Michael Holt bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $186.59 per share, with a total value of $186,590.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 9,480 shares in the company, valued at $1,768,873.20. This represents a 11.79% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Morningstar Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MORN traded up $4.57 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $186.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 528,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 607,375. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.08 and a fifty-two week high of $316.71.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $634.43 million.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s payout ratio is currently 22.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MORN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter worth $3,400,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at about $686,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 1,196.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,713,000 after buying an additional 240,848 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at $1,369,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 153.0% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,186,000 after buying an additional 6,084 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.