Morningstar, Inc. (MORN) To Go Ex-Dividend on October 2nd

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share by the business services provider on Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd.

Morningstar has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Morningstar has a payout ratio of 19.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $186.35 on Wednesday. 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 $6.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.65 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $234.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $201.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.72.

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

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 5,659 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.84, for a total value of $1,238,415.56. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,938,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,737,193,937.28. The trade was a 0.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 86,500 shares of company stock valued at $17,824,451. 38.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MORN. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $545,937,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the second quarter worth about $324,792,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the fourth quarter worth about $62,367,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Morningstar during the second quarter worth about $36,272,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Morningstar in the second quarter valued at about $30,051,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and analytical services. The company serves individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, institutions, and retirement plan providers through information and tools designed to support investment research, portfolio construction, wealth management, and financial planning.

Its offerings include ratings and research on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, and other investments; portfolio management and investment research platforms such as Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Advisor Workstation; and data, analytics, and software for asset managers and financial institutions.