Kera Capital Partners Inc. Takes Position in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,396 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. WPG Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Morningstar by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total value of $1,205,167.50. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,114,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,348,872,005.16. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. Company insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MORN. Wall Street Zen downgraded Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on Morningstar in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.67.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $153.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.08 and a 52-week high of $316.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $176.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.15.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.

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.