Insider Selling: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,501,040.00 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.04, for a total value of $1,501,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,969,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,650,045,859.84. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Stock Up 2.4%

NASDAQ MORN traded up $4.92 on Wednesday, hitting $213.65. 357,140 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 513,496. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $176.77 and a 200 day moving average of $176.20. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.49 and a twelve month high of $266.05. The company has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MORN has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group cut their target price on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in 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 during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,615,000 after acquiring an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.