Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,552,660.00 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.16, for a total value of $1,552,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 7,947,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,702,132,115.36. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MORN traded down $1.52 on Friday, reaching $215.97. 201,905 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 510,137. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45 and a beta of 0.99. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.49 and a fifty-two week high of $266.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $178.13 and a 200 day moving average of $176.39.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at about $545,937,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Morningstar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $324,792,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Morningstar by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,910,000 after acquiring an additional 523,387 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after purchasing an additional 314,275 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,367,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MORN. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.33.

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.