Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,610,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,466 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Morningstar worth $605,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Morningstar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Morningstar by 23.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Morningstar during the second quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Morningstar in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MORN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

Morningstar Price Performance

MORN opened at $162.94 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $197.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.99. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.08 and a 12-month high of $325.62. The firm has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

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

Morningstar Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 6,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total transaction of $1,066,134.72. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,170,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,318,204,914.36. This represents a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 67,621 shares of company stock worth $11,203,293. 36.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Morningstar

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.