Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 286,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $62,367,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in Morningstar by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,414,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $328,133,000 after acquiring an additional 118,979 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $141,119,000 after acquiring an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Morningstar by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 420,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $97,482,000 after acquiring an additional 88,496 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Morningstar by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 318,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,891,000 after acquiring an additional 82,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Morningstar by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 296,302 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,745,000 after acquiring an additional 15,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $185.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.08 and a fifty-two week high of $316.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William M. Lyons sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.00, for a total transaction of $125,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,904 shares in the company, valued at $2,488,816. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,043,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,421,445,906.24. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Morningstar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morningstar’s high-profile valuation of SpaceX has generated heavy media coverage and may boost visibility for MORN as a credible independent research provider. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morningstar stock crossed above its 200-day moving average, a technical signal that can attract momentum buyers and suggest improving trend strength. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple articles repeated Morningstar’s view that SpaceX is significantly overvalued, keeping MORN in the news but not directly changing its fundamentals. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morningstar also published commentary on broader market topics, including single-stock turbulence and political fraud claims, which appears more informational than stock-moving for MORN. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

MORN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.