Joseph Mansueto Sells 4,002 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 4,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.08, for a total transaction of $708,674.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,103,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,921,739.20. The trade was a 0.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of Morningstar stock traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, hitting $175.82. 332,308 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 562,450. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.08 and a 12-month high of $316.71. 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 company has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.66.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.50.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

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

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.