Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,243,882.50 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.57, for a total value of $1,243,882.50. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,045,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,380,411,386.34. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $179.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $174.99 and a 200 day moving average of $192.06. The company has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.08 and a 12-month high of $316.71.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.The company had revenue of $644.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $626.91 million.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on MORN shares. UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.50.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $435,995,000 after acquiring an additional 47,360 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,414,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,133,000 after purchasing an additional 118,979 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 valued at $246,910,000 after purchasing an additional 523,387 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,644,000 after purchasing an additional 292,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,514,000 after purchasing an additional 45,798 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morningstar Company Profile

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.