Aurora Investment Counsel Has $2.09 Million Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Aurora Investment Counsel grew its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 151.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,786 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $2,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $435,995,000 after purchasing an additional 47,360 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 9.2% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,414,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,133,000 after acquiring an additional 118,979 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after acquiring an additional 314,275 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 471,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $102,566,000 after acquiring an additional 51,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 365,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,440,000 after acquiring an additional 47,082 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total transaction of $401,154.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 13,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,488,816. This trade represents a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471 over the last three months. 38.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morningstar Price Performance

MORN stock opened at $175.22 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $177.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.89. The company has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MORN shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

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.