Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells 6,594 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 6,594 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.75, for a total value of $1,409,467.50. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,955,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,700,423,145. This trade represents a 0.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

MORN stock traded up $4.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $213.65. 357,140 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 513,496. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $266.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $176.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a PE ratio of 20.23 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MORN. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.33.

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.