Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Morningstar Trading Down 7.6 %

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $268.76 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $309.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $327.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.51 billion, a PE ratio of 35.50 and a beta of 1.16. Morningstar has a 12 month low of $268.31 and a 12 month high of $365.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.15. Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm had revenue of $591.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $580.81 million.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 1,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.57, for a total value of $410,329.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 10,130,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,247,495,275.46. This trade represents a 0.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 59,544 shares of company stock worth $18,770,097 over the last quarter. 39.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MORN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Morningstar by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,803,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $944,144,000 after buying an additional 51,598 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,080,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $363,903,000 after acquiring an additional 130,087 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Morningstar by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 804,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $256,666,000 after purchasing an additional 28,698 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 561,431 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,116,000 after purchasing an additional 64,020 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Morningstar in the 4th quarter worth about $111,694,000. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc provides independent investment insights in the United States, Asia. Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Morningstar Data and Analytics; PitchBook; Morningstar Wealth; Morningstar Credit; and Morningstar Retirement.