Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Takes $1.66 Million Position in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,658,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 2,450.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,615,000 after acquiring an additional 51,449 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.00, for a total transaction of $125,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,488,816. This represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471 in the last three months. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN stock opened at $173.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $177.72 and its 200 day moving average is $188.45. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.08 and a 12 month high of $316.71.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MORN shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.