Inceptionr LLC Purchases Shares of 3,070 Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Morningstar by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $435,995,000 after purchasing an additional 47,360 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% during 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 buying an additional 523,387 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 292,053 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 9.7% during the first 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 period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 365,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,440,000 after purchasing an additional 47,082 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on MORN shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of MORN opened at $172.61 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.49 and a fifty-two week high of $289.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.12. The stock has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.01. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.The firm had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.00, for a total transaction of $125,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,488,816. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Holt sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.05, for a total value of $44,833.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,326 shares in the company, valued at $2,046,732.30. The trade was a 2.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471. Corporate insiders own 38.80% 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.