Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto Sells 2,270 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total transaction of $401,154.40. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $179.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $174.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.06. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.08 and a 52-week high of $316.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MORN. Weiss Ratings downgraded 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 Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 23.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 3.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 278.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 2,450.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 58.8% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,615,000 after purchasing an additional 51,449 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.