Morningstar, Inc. $MORN Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,610,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,466 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 6.35% of Morningstar worth $605,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Morningstar by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 3.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 10.4% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 2,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Morningstar in the second quarter valued at approximately $373,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $1,173,241.52. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,184,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,629,973.56. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,621 shares of company stock worth $11,203,293. Company insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $162.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $218.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.08 and a fifty-two week high of $325.62. The company has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.08.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $641.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.43 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.

Morningstar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MORN. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

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.