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

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.61, for a total value of $1,780,672.50. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,579,929 shares in the company, valued at $2,107,316,361.69. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ MORN opened at $246.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $211.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.82. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $251.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.73 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $3.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.44. Morningstar had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 17.00%. The company had revenue of $672.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.75 million.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $545,937,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at about $324,792,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Morningstar by 9.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,514,000 after purchasing an additional 45,798 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Morningstar by 38.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 448,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,881,000 after purchasing an additional 125,100 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Morningstar by 38.5% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 394,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $66,763,000 after purchasing an additional 109,833 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MORN. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Morningstar from $230.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.67.

More Morningstar News

These are some of the MORN news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: A recent Seeking Alpha analysis described Morningstar as “still slightly undervalued,” a potentially supportive view for investors focused on valuation. Separately, the company’s latest reported quarter beat consensus on both earnings and revenue: EPS was $3.48 versus $3.04 expected, and revenue was $672.1 million versus $664.75 million. Morningstar: Still Slightly Undervalued
• Neutral Sentiment: Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 14,635 shares across three transactions. The sales were made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and are small relative to his remaining ownership of more than 8.5 million shares, limiting their significance as a signal about the company’s outlook. SEC Form 4 filing

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc. is a global provider of independent investment research, data, ratings and investment-management tools. The company serves individual investors, financial advisers, asset managers, retirement plan providers and institutions. Its offerings include investment and portfolio data, mutual fund and exchange-traded fund research, software for financial professionals, and wealth-management services. Morningstar also provides credit ratings through DBRS Morningstar and sustainability research through Sustainalytics.