Insider Selling: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells 2,270 Shares of Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 8,043,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of MORN stock traded up $6.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $179.64. 591,514 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 561,629. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.08 and a twelve month high of $316.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.15. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MORN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Morningstar by 2.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in Morningstar by 9.2% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,414,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,133,000 after buying an additional 118,979 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% in 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 buying an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,644,000 after acquiring an additional 292,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 45,798 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.