Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Stock Performance

NASDAQ MORN opened at $218.94 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.49. Morningstar has a 12-month low of $141.49 and a 12-month high of $263.67. The firm has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.The business had revenue of $663.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $649.72 million.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total value of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 7,960,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 86,500 shares of company stock worth $17,824,451 in the last ninety days. 38.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Morningstar by 12,070.7% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,580,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $558,703,000 after buying an additional 3,551,548 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Morningstar in the second quarter worth about $545,937,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $324,792,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Morningstar by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $435,995,000 after acquiring an additional 47,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 523,387 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.