Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 44.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,216 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $2,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morningstar by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total value of $1,205,167.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,114,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,348,872,005.16. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. Corporate insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $186.06 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.23. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.08 and a 1 year high of $316.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.50.

Morningstar 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.