Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $248.25 and last traded at $247.4640, with a volume of 11,099 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $244.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MORN. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $230.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.67.

Morningstar Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $207.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.54. The stock has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65 and a beta of 0.91.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $3.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.44. Morningstar had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $672.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $664.75 million.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total transaction of $1,662,315.56. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,960,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,789,448.20. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 90,132 shares of company stock worth $19,369,045 over the last three months. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lido Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the third quarter valued at about $305,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the third quarter worth about $274,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its position in Morningstar by 4,626.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 898 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Morningstar by 326.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 27,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after buying an additional 20,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Morningstar in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $363,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and financial technology. The company serves asset managers, financial advisors, institutions, retirement plans, and individual investors with information designed to support investment analysis and decision-making.

Its products and services include research and ratings on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, and other investments; portfolio analysis and planning tools; investment-management and advisory services; and software and data solutions for financial professionals and institutions.