Dearborn Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,467,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Morningstar by 23.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Morningstar by 278.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morningstar by 2,450.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,615,000 after acquiring an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MORN shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.33.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $217.50 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $179.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $265.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. Morningstar had a return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.The company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.72 million.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total value of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 7,960,570 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 87,200 shares of company stock worth $17,949,751. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

About Morningstar

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.