Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto Sells 7,304 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $1,173,241.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,184,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,629,973.56. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN traded up $4.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $162.75. The stock had a trading volume of 620,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 591,914. The company has a 50 day moving average of $201.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $222.14. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.08 and a twelve month high of $329.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 1.08.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.The firm had revenue of $641.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.43 million.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Morningstar’s payout ratio is currently 22.45%.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 2.4% during the 4th 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. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Morningstar by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,414,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,133,000 after acquiring an additional 118,979 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in 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 worth $246,910,000 after purchasing an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 48.0% in 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 buying an additional 292,053 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $196,839,000 after buying an additional 11,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

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.