Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 235,971 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,374,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 235,971 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Morningstar worth $515,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $167.67 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $176.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 0.99. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.08 and a 12-month high of $316.71.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%. The company had revenue of $644.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other news, CFO Michael Holt acquired 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $186.59 per share, with a total value of $186,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,768,873.20. This trade represents a 11.79% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,232,282.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,128,992 shares in the company, valued at $1,381,684,770.24. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 99,143 shares of company stock worth $16,560,243 over the last three months. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.50.

Morningstar 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.