Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 5,759 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 105.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,759 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $2,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 106.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after purchasing an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morningstar in the second quarter valued at $93,224,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 266.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 280,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $88,190,000 after buying an additional 204,277 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 22,716.4% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 162,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,512,000 after buying an additional 161,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 362.8% during the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 187,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,416,000 after acquiring an additional 146,693 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $1,173,241.52. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,184,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,629,973.56. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 84,643 shares of company stock valued at $14,088,066 over the last 90 days. 36.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $169.70 on Thursday. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.08 and a 52 week high of $316.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $177.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05 and a beta of 1.11.

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

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.