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

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.20, for a total value of $1,444,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 8,030,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,599,763,646.40. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

Morningstar stock traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $199.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 243,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 526,396. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.88 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MORN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price target 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, Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 23.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised 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 worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Morningstar by 278.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morningstar by 2,450.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.