Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto Sells 7,250 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total value of $1,290,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,148,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,451,512. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Morningstar Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $183.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $195.10 and a 200-day moving average of $217.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.08. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.08 and a 12 month high of $318.95.

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

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MORN. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morningstar has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.50.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MORN. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,400,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at $686,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Morningstar by 1,196.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after acquiring an additional 240,848 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,369,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 153.0% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.