MidFirst Bank Invests $2.90 Million in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 18,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,896,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MORN. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the second quarter valued at $324,792,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Morningstar by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $435,995,000 after purchasing an additional 47,360 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Morningstar by 85.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,910,000 after purchasing an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Morningstar by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,644,000 after purchasing an additional 292,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Morningstar by 9.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,514,000 after purchasing an additional 45,798 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morningstar Price Performance

Morningstar stock opened at $206.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $176.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.17. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.49 and a 1 year high of $266.05.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.27, for a total transaction of $1,415,707.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,984,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,559,073,952.92. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total value of $199,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,567,896. This represents a 7.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 57,966 shares of company stock worth $11,343,298 over the last 90 days. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.